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?