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In Defence of Meaningful Work as a Public Policy Concern

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Philosophy and Political Engagement

Part of the book series: International Political Theory ((IPoT))

Abstract

Breen critically examines the arguments put forward by those for whom ethical considerations either do not play or should not play a role in modern politics. Breen challenges three distinct claims to the effect that the demand for meaningful work, grounded upon an ethical ideal of such work as partly constitutive of a good human life, is either not a significant, a feasible, or an acceptable concern of public policy in liberal capitalist societies. Based on a detailed examination of the work of Jürgen Habermas, Will Kymlicka, and Alasdair MacIntyre, among others, as well as a thorough analysis of the possibilities for meaningful work in modern economic contexts, Breen provides a timely analysis of the place of ethics in both politics and philosophy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the various dimensions of meaningfulness attaching to work, see Yeoman (2014, pp. 8–38). On the distinction between ‘external’ and ‘internal goods’, see MacIntyre (1985, pp. 187–197) and Sect. 3 below.

  2. 2.

    See Smith’s (1979 [1776], pp. 13–24) analysis of pin production for a classic account of the detailed division of labour.

  3. 3.

    It is worth distinguishing the demand for meaningful work from the demand for ‘decent work’, that is, work characterized by proper remuneration, safe working conditions, fair employment practices, et cetera (see ILO 2015). Although these demands are related, they remain distinct: one can have decent work that provides little scope for autonomy or individual flourishing, and meaningful work that is poorly remunerated and undertaken in dangerous environments.

  4. 4.

    In this section I draw on earlier analyses of Habermas (Breen 2007, 2015).

  5. 5.

    Indeed, Habermas repeatedly rejects the view that labour or work has a normative significance comparable with that of the ideal of communicative action (see Habermas 1987a, p. 340, 1987b, pp. 63, 82, 341–49, 1991, pp. 33–4, 38).

  6. 6.

    Sitton (1998, p. 81). For related arguments, see Honneth (1995) and McCarthy (1991).

  7. 7.

    See, for instance, the discussions in Breen (2007), Keat (2000), and Muirhead (2004).

  8. 8.

    MacIntyre (1985, p. 227). Notice my focus here is mainly on After Virtue, where MacIntyre excoriates the capitalist present but denies the prospect of any wide-ranging transformation of ‘the new dark ages which are already upon us’ (MacIntyre 1985, p. 263). In later texts he strikes a more hopeful, and to my mind welcome, chord, arguing the capitalist economic order ‘can be successfully resisted and even changed’ (MacIntyre 2015, p. 17).

  9. 9.

    The local communities MacIntyre (1999, p. 143) refers to include New England fishing villages, Mayan towns in Mexico and Guatemala, and Welsh mining communities.

  10. 10.

    In comparing LMEs and CMEs, Keat (2008a, p. 80) clarifies ‘that the term ‘Liberal’, in ‘LMEs’, is used in its economic [primacy of free market relations], not its political, sense’. This is an important clarification because CME societies, with regard to their support for civil rights and liberties, are politically no less liberal than LME societies.

  11. 11.

    I concentrate on Kymlicka for reasons of space, though he himself draws extensively upon fellow neutralist liberals, including Dworkin (1978), Arneson (1987), and Rawls (1971). My argument in this section is indebted to Keat’s (2008b, 2009, 2011) critique of the attempt to exclude ethics from politics and political economy.

  12. 12.

    On work’s role in both engendering and hindering self-esteem, see Gomberg (2007) and Lane (1991).

  13. 13.

    See, for instance, Hauser and Roan (2007), Kohn and Schooler (1983), and Kornhauser (1964).

  14. 14.

    Against the assumption (Kymlicka 2002, p. 247) that neutrality can be maintained in such decisions, Chan (2000, p. 19) makes it clear that in ‘providing and supporting options, the state cannot avoid evaluating the intrinsic merit of the options’.

  15. 15.

    It is essential to note here that ‘not all perfectionist action is a coercive imposition of a style of life. Much of it could be encouraging and facilitating action of the desired kind, or discouraging undesired modes of behaviour’ (Raz 1986, p. 161). It is this moderate, liberty-preserving, perfectionism, not a coercive perfectionism, that is endorsed by most defenders of a right to meaningful work (see Keat (2011), Muirhead (2004), and Roessler (2012)).

  16. 16.

    I am grateful to Allyn Fives, Russell Keat, Cillian McBride, Paddy McQueen, Geoff Moore, Fabian Schuppert, and Ruth Yeoman for their discussion of the themes addressed in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

    Keith Breen

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  1. Keith Breen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science & Sociol, National University of Ireland, Galway, Seershin , Galway, Ireland

    Allyn Fives

  2. Sch Politics, Intl Studies, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom

    Keith Breen

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Breen, K. (2016). In Defence of Meaningful Work as a Public Policy Concern. In: Fives, A., Breen, K. (eds) Philosophy and Political Engagement. International Political Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-44587-2_8

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