Work
• What obligations do we have in choosing work?
• What obligations do we have as workers?
• What entitlements to work do we have?
• What entitlements do we have as workers?
What obligations do we have as workers?
• To self ?– to do only meaningful work
• To others?– colleagues– employer– profession– customers/clients– competitors– community– environment
• How do we prioritize among these?
Work as a Social Benefit• Is work important enough to
require just distribution? – Why or why not?
• If yes, what principle(s) of distributive justice apply to work?
• Given the connection of work and self-esteem and self-identify, does it matter what kind of work people have access to?
Work and Happiness
• Job– Activity: Unpleasant, not
personally meaningful– Working conditions: poor
• Career– Activity: Challenging, not
personally meaningful– Working conditions: generally
good, but often stressful and long hours
Work and Happiness
• Vocation– Activity: personally meaningful,
socially useful– Working conditions: vary
Other Views about Work
• Protestant work ethic– Work is supposed to be
unpleasant because it’s a punishment.
– Hard work will be rewarded in this life.
• Buddhist work ethic– Desire less and work less.– Reverence for all living things
• Value your colleagues, customers
• Protect the environment.
What are workers entitled to?
• Some possible answers for the currently employed:– to continued employment – to fairness and against
discrimination– to safe working conditions– to associate, e.g. to unionize– to privacy– to autonomy and free speech– to a personal life– to fair compensation
Further questions about worker entitlement
• Are all workers entitled to an equal opportunity to have – a job? a career? a vocation? a
vocation with good working conditions?