Social and Economic Justice

1. Social and Economic Justice Chapter 10 Beauchamp and Bowie

2. Theories of Distributive Justice • What do we mean by “distributive justice?” • The “proper” distribution of social benefits and burdens • How to allocate scarce “goods” • These goods may be income, wealth, opportunity

3. Principles of Distributive Justice • Equality • Need • Rights • Effort • Societal contribution • Merit

4. Theories of Social Justice • Utilitarian Theory • Egalitarian Theory • Libertarian Theory • Communitarian Theory

5. Utilitarian Theory • Justice is the maximization of net benefits to society – outcome is what matters! • Depending upon the issue, any of the six principles may apply • If we are talking about medical care, distribution according to individual need may maximize net benefits • If we are talking about income, individual effort combined with merit may maximize net benefits

6. Singer’s Preference Utilitarianism • Obligation to Assist • humans have always been social and part of a community that helps them develop • If we can prevent something bad without sacrificing anything of comparable significance, we ought to do it; • absolute poverty is bad; • there is some poverty we can prevent without sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance; • therefore we ought to prevent some absolute poverty. • With number 3 above he is making some interpersonal comparisons of utility - i.e., a second car is less important (of less moral significance) than reducing world poverty

7. Egalitarian Theory • Radical egalitarians demand complete equality • Qualified egalitarians understand that some inequality may be necessary

8. John Rawls’s Theory • Qualified egalitarian • Must have equality with respect to basic rights and liberties • Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with similar liberty for others. • Liberty Principle

9. Rawls’s Basic Liberties • political liberty - right to vote and to run for public office • freedom of speech and assembly • freedom of thought • freedom of the person • right to hold personal property • freedom from arbitrary arrest and seizure

10. John Rawls’s Theory • Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both: • reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage and • attached to positions and offices open to all. • Difference Principle

11. Rawls’s Difference Principle • society may undertake projects that require giving some persons more power, income, status, etc. than others, e.g., paying accountants and upper-level managers more than assembly-line operatives, provided that the following conditions are met: • the project will make life better off for the people who are now worst off, for example, by raising the living standards of everyone in the community and empowering the least advantaged persons to the extent consistent with their well-being, • access to the privileged positions is not blocked by discrimination according to irrelevant criteria.

12. Remember • The Liberty Principle takes absolute priority over the Difference Principle in the sense that justice forbids giving up some of the basic liberties in anticipation of increased material gain or increased security

13. Rawls’s Principle of Redress • Undeserved inequalities must be remedied.  • What is an underserved inequality - differences due to birth and/or natural endowment • "In order to treat all persons equally, to provide genuine equality of opportunity, society must give more attention to those with fewer native assets and to those born into the less favorable social positions. • The fact that people are not born "equal" is not an issue of justice - it is just a natural fact.  However, how society's institutions deal with this inequality is an issue of justice

14. What are the agents of redress? • Background Institutions • Allocation Branch • Stabilization Branch • Transfer Branch • Distribution Branch

15. Allocation Branch • Keep the price system working competitively and prevent formation of unreasonable market power • Antitrust division of Department of Justice • Correct negative externalities • Environmental Protection Agency

16. Stabilization Branch • Charged with keeping the macro economy on track • Federal Reserve - monetary policy • Congress and the President - fiscal policy (limited use) • We might also include agencies that are in charge of automatic stabilizers in the economy, such as unemployment benefits

17. Transfer Branch • Providing a minimum standard of living for people • Food stamps - Department of Agriculture • Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) • HUD subsidized housing • Social security • Public education

18. Distribution Branch • Redistribute income in the quest for justice – prevent the concentration of economic power • Progressive income tax system • Estate Taxes • Public Education here, too?

19. Rawls’s Theory • Any of the six principles may be legitimate • Basic liberties – equality • Economic sphere – need, effort, merit, societal contribution – as long as the inequality makes those who are worst off better AND that the inequality is not based on discriminatory practices

20. Libertarian Theory • Individual rights are supreme - economic, social and political rights • Free market system is the best - limited role of the state (government) • Do not sacrifice individual rights to group rights/public interest • Procedural justice - outcomes are fair if the procedures are fair

21. Nozick’s Justice in Holdings • Justice in Acquisition • Justice In Transfer

22. Justice In Acquisition • A person has a right to: • Own what he makes • to appropriate anything not already owned, provided he leaves 'enough and as good' for others - i.e. provided his appropriation leaves them no worse off • Based on John Locke

23. Justice in Transfer • Voluntary Transfer • Gifts • No Fraud • No enslavement

24. Libertarian Theory • What makes the procedure fair? • Consistency - fair procedures should guarantee that like cases are treated alike. • Those carrying out the procedures must be impartial and neutral • Those directly affected by the decisions should have a voice and representation in the process • The processes that are implemented should be transparent. Decisions should be reached through open procedures, without secrecy or deception

25. Rectification of Injustice in Holdings (Nozick) • Is there any room for redress? • Only to the extent that there has been fraud • Limited role of government in addressing injustice – legal system that establishes and protects property rights

26. Libertarian Theory • Which of the six principles has legitimacy in this theory? • Effort • Merit

27. Communitarian Theory • group goals • collective control

28. Communitarian Theory • reject focus on individual as in Rawls and libertarian • individuals are not atomistic, ‘unencumbered selves’ -- individuals are situated within a community, embedded in the received wisdom of our human culture • justice is only needed when communal values have broken down • the community overrides the individual • Since self-determination does not occur in a vacuum, the government needs to support a social environment that is conducive to the development of what is best in all of us.

29. Walzer’s Communitarian Theory • Does not agree with Rawls’s “veil of ignorance” • That is not how people make decisions • "Even if they are committed to impartiality, the questions most likely to arise in the minds of the members of a political community is not, What would rational individuals choose under universalizing conditions of such-and-such a sort? But rather, What would individuals like us choose, who are situated as we are, who share a culture and are determined to go on sharing it?"

30. Walzer’s notion of pluralism • Diversity in the concept of justice - there is a notion of "complex equality" • differences in the goods that are subject to distribution • many different processes/criteria/bases for distribution • for example, purchasing power in the political sphere through means derived from the economic sphere (i.e., money) needs to be prevented • The market works well for the allocation of some goods but not for others

31. Communitarian Theory • Which of the six principles has legitimacy in this theory? • Equality • Need • Rights • Societal contribution

32. What are the last two readings in Chapter 10 all about?? • The ethics of capitalism • Milton Friedman – capitalism and markets are great – markets ensure efficiency and maximum output • Leo Groarke – capitalism and markets are not always so great – need mitigated capitalism

33. Strengths of capitalism (Groarke) • ability to exploit individual self interest for the sake of the greater good • willingness to recognize that different people are not equal • able to coordinate the production and distribution of goods with little government planning and regulation • tolerance for different ways of doing things • commitment to freedom

34. Weaknesses of Capitalism (Groarke) • negative influence on moral character of society • environmental problems • markets are not always driven by efficiency and innovation but by past prejudice and convention • misinformation is a problem • inefficiencies are fostered by unequal distribution of wealth and power • markets do not promote the common good or protect the people in need of help • markets do not consider the needs of people who do not directly participate