Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:22:28.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Corporate Institutions in a Weakened Welfare State: A Rawlsian Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Sandrine Blanc  and
Ismael Al-Amoudi
Sandrine Blanc
Affiliation:
INSEEC Business School
Ismael Al-Amoudi
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper re-examines the import of Rawls’s theory of justice for private sector institutions in the face of the decline of the welfare state. The argument is based on a Rawlsian conception of justice as the establishment of a basic structure of society that guarantees a fair distribution of primary goods. We propose that the decline of the welfare state witnessed in Western countries over the past forty years prompts a reassessment of the boundaries of the basic structure in order to include additional corporate institutions. A discussion centered on the primary good of self-respect, but extensible to power and prerogatives as well as income and wealth, examines how the legislator should intervene in private sector institutions to counterbalance any unfairness that results from the decline of the welfare state.

Keywords

basic structurecorporate democracyjusticeRawlsself-respectwelfare state
Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 497 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2013

References

REFERENCES

Beck, J.H. 2005.“Distributive Justice and the Rules of the Corporation: Partial versus General Equilibrium Analysis,” Business Ethics Quarterly 15(3): 355–62.http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200515328CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boatright, J.R. 2004.“Employee Governance and the Ownership of the Firm,” Business Ethics Quarterly 14(1): 1–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq20041416CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boatright, J.R. 2006.“What’s Wrong—and What’s Right—with Stakeholder Management,” Journal of Private Enterprise 21: 106–30. Google Scholar
Boatright, J.R. 2010.“Executive Compensation: Unjust or Just Right?,” in Oxford Handbook of Business Ethics,ed.Brenkert, G.G. and Beauchamp, T.L.161–201. New York: Oxford University Press. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, J.W., and Marcoux, A.M. 1999. “Freeman and Evan: Stakeholder Theory in the Original Position,” Business Ethics Quarterly 9(2): 207–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3857472CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coase, R.H., 1937. “The Nature of the Firm,” Economica 4(16): 386–405. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.1937.tb00002.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, G.A. 2008.Rescuing Justice and Equality. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, J., 1989a.“Democratic Equality,” Ethics 99(4): 727–51.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/293119CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J., 1989b.“The Economic Basis of Deliberative Democracy,” Social Philosophy and Policy 10(2): 25–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500000625CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwall, S.L. 1977.“Two Kinds of Respect,” Ethics 88(1): 36–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/292054CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djelic, M.L. 2010.“Institutional Perspectives-Working towards Coherence or Irreconcilable Diversity?,” in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis, ed. Campbell, John L., Crouch, Colin, Morgan, Glenn, Pedersen, Ove Kaj, and Whitley, Richard, 16–40. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Doppelt, G. 1981.“Rawls' System of Justice: A Critique from the Left,” Noûs 15(3): 259–307. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2215434CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edward, P., and Willmott, H. 2008. “Corporate Citizenship: Rise or Demise of a Myth?,” Academy of Management Review 33(3): 771–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2008.32465773CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. 1990.The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. 1996a.“After the Golden Age? Welfare State Dilemmas in a Global Economy,” in Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies, ed. Esping-Andersen, G., 1–31. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G., 1996b. Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G., 1996c.“Welfare States without Work: The Impasse of Labour Shedding and Familialism in Continental European Policy,” in Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies, ed. Esping-Andersen, G.66–87. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Eyal, N. 2005.“Perhaps the Most Important Primary Good: Self-Respect and Rawls’s Principles of Justice,” in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics 4(2): 195–219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470594X05052538CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fama, E., and Jensen, M. 1983.“Separation of Ownership and Control,” Journal of Law and Economics 26(2): 301–25.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/467037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, I., Lavalette, M. and Mooney, G. 2002.Rethinking Welfare: A Critical Perspective. London: Sage PublicationsCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleurbaey, M. 2006a.Capitalisme ou démocratie? L’alternative du XXIéme siécle. Paris: GrassetGoogle Scholar
Fleurbaey, M. 2006b.“Mesurer les inégalités et dire l’injustice” in L’Etat des intégalités,ed.Maurin, L. and Savidan, p.Paris: Belin.Google Scholar
Freeman, S. 2007. Rawls. Milton Park: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guillarme, B. 1999.Rawls et l’égalité démocratique. Paris: PUF.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutmann, A., ed. 1988.Democracy and the Welfare State. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. 2005. Une époque de transitions: écrits politiques,1998–2003, trans. Bouchindhomme, C.Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Heath, J., Moriarty, J. and Norman, W. 2010.“Business Ethics and (or as) Political Philosophy,” Business Ethics Quarterly 20(3): 427–52.http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq201020329CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, N., 2004.“The Obligations of Transnational Corporations: Rawlsian Justice and the Duty of Assistance,” Business Ethics Quarterly 14: 643–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200414437CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, N., 2005.“Rawlsian Justice and Workplace Republicanism,” Social Theory and Practice 31(1): 115–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract20053116CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, N., 2008a.“Survey Article: Justice in Production,” The Journal of Political Philosophy 16: 72–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2007.00290.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, N., 2008b.“Workplace Democracy, Workplace Republicanism and Economic Democracy,” Revue de Philosophie Economique 9(1): 57–78.Google Scholar
Hussain, W. 2009.“The Most Stable Just Regime,” Journal of Social Philosophy 40(3): 412–33.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01460.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hussain, W. 2012.“Nurturing the Sense of Justice: The Rawlsian Argument for Democratic Corporatism,” in Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond, ed. O’Neill, M. and Williamson, T.180–200. Malden, Mass.:Wiley-Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machan, T.R., and Chesher, J.. 2002. A Primer on Business Ethics. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Maitland, I. 2001.“Distributive Justice in Firms: Do the Rules of Corporate Governance Matter?,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 11(1): 129–43.http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3857873Google Scholar
Massey, S.J. 1983.“Is Self-Respect a Moral or a Psychological Concept?,” Ethics, 93(2): 246–61.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/292432CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCall, J.J. 2001.“Employee Voice in Corporate Governance: A Defense of Strong Participation Rights,” Business Ethics Quarterly, 11(1): 195–213. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3857877CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGregor, D. 1960.The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Mitchell, T.R. 1972.“Motivation and Participation: An Integration,” Academy of Management Journal, 16(4): 670–79.http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/254699CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moriarty, J. 2005.“On the Relevance of Political Philosophy to Business Ethics,” Business Ethics Quarterly 15(3): 455–73.http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq200515330CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moriarty, J. 2009.“Rawls, Self-Respect, and the Opportunity for Meaningful Work,” Social Theory and Practice 35(3): 441–59.http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/soctheorpract200935325CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myles, J. 1996.“When Markets Fail: Social Welfare in Canada and the United States,” in Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies, ed. Esping-Andersen, G.32–65. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Okin, S.M. 1989.Justice, Gender, and the Family. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. 2008.“Three Rawlsian Routes towards Economic Democracy,” in Revue de Philosophie économique 9(1): 29–55.Google Scholar
O’Neill, M. 2009.“Entreprises et conventionnalisme: régulation, impôt et justice sociale,” Raison publique (10): 171–200.Google Scholar
Phillips, R.A., and Margolis, J.D. 1999.“Toward an Ethics of Organizations,” Business Ethics Quarterly 9(4): 619–38.http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3857939CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971.A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1993.Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1999a.Collected Papers.Freeman, S.R.Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1999b.A Theory of Justice, rev.ed.Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 2001b.Justice as Fairness, a Restatement. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 2005.Political Liberalism, expanded edition. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Rosanvallon, P. 1981.La crise de l’Etat-providence. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Schwartz, A., 1982.“Meaningful Work,” Ethics 92(4): 634–46.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/292380CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shue, H., 1975.“Liberty and Self-Respect,” Ethics 85(3): 195–203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/291957CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stedman Jones, G. 2005.An End to Poverty? A Historical Debate. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, J.S. 1996.“The Scandinavian Welfare States: Achievement, Crisis and Prospects,” in Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies, ed. Esping-Andersen, G.32–65.London: Sage.Google Scholar
Taylor, R.S., 2004.“Self-Realization and the Priority of Fair Equality of Opportunity,” Journal of Moral Philosophy 1(3): 333–47.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/174046810400100307CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Parijs, p. 1995.Real Freedom for All: What (if Anything) Can Justify Capitalism? Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Van Parijs, p. 2003.“Difference Principle,” in The Cambridge Companion to Rawls, ed. Freeman, S.200–40. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Walzer, M. 1998.“Socializing the Welfare State,” in Democracy and the Welfare State, ed Gutmann, A.13–26. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, O.E. 1975.Markets and Hierarchies. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Witztum, A. 2008.“Corporate Rules, Distributive Justice, and Efficiency,” Business Ethics Quarterly 18(1): 85–116.http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/beq20081818CrossRefGoogle Scholar