Capabilities, Contributive Injustice and Unequal Divisions of Labour

Bibliographic Data

ID7433995
AuthorsAndrew Sayer (0000-0001-5564-5154, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume13
Issue4
Pages580-596
Publication date2012-06-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Human Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9888 • E-ISSN: 1469-9516
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19452829.2012.693069
OpenAlexW2070665783
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited31

It is argued that the radical implications of the capabilities approach have been widely overlooked, primarily because of a tendency for the approach to be combined with inadequate theories of society, particularly regarding the external conditions enabling or limiting capabilities. While the approach is accepted in principle, by turning to the theory of contributive justice, which focuses on what people are allowed or expected to contribute in terms of work, paid or unpaid, we can see that job shortages and unequal divisions of labour are a major cause of capability inequalities and deficiencies. In so doing the theory helps us to appreciate the radical implications of the capabilities approach. Keywords: CapabilitiesCapability approachEconomic developmentInequalityWell-being Notes For example, subsuming those causes of inequality which are not the product of individual free choice under the heading of ‘luck’ obscures the nature of these processes, many of which result from structures of power. Worse, it treats domination and exploitation as equivalent to random events such as accidents or illness, individualizing and depoliticizing them. This is one of Menon's criticisms of Nussbaum's discussion of capabilities in relation to India (Menon, 2002 Menon, N. 2002. Universalism without foundations?. Economy and Society, 31(1): 152–169. (doi:10.1080/03085140120109295)[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The rise to prominence of national competitiveness indices and the threat of capital flight have had an extraordinary disciplining effect on states, increasing the power of capital to veto democratic decisions and impose austerity measures. While this pattern of emphasis is attractive to dominant interests, educational institutions, with their commitment to the development of individuals' capacities, can easily be co-opted to this neoliberal agenda (Andresen et al., 2010 Andresen, S., Otto, H.-U. and Ziegler, H. 2010. “Bildung as human development: an educational view on the capabilities approach”. In Capabilities: Handlungsbefähigung und Vewirklichungschancen in der Erziehungswissenschaft, Edited by: Otto, H.-U. and Ziegler, H. 165–197. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). I am aware that skill is a contested concept and that some skills, especially those associated with women, are undervalued. Nevertheless, this does not mean that all acknowledged skill differences are purely illusory. Gomberg (2007) Gomberg, P. 2007. How to Make Opportunity Equal: Race and Contributive Justice, Oxford: Blackwell. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] also argues that task rotation makes work more meaningful not only because it provides variety, but also because it can allow workers to do several tasks that form interdependent parts of a unified process or project that is comprehensible to the worker. Doing your own photocopying when you need to do it as part of the completion of a project is more meaningful than doing everyone else's photocopying and nothing else. Again, structural conditions—in this case, job and workplace design—may inhibit or facilitate the realization of capabilities. Some university departments construct points systems to measure individual contributions of teaching, administration and research so they can be roughly equalized (Sayer, 2008 Sayer, A. (2008) ‘Moral economic regulation in organizations: a university example’, Organization, 15(2), pp. 147–164. [Google Scholar]) Note that the primary target of Marx and Engels' early critique of capitalism in The German Ideology was division of labour rather than class (Marx and Engels, 1973 Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1973. The German Ideology, London: Lawrence and Wishart. [Google Scholar]). If distribution were more equal, employers would have a weaker financial incentive to strip out low-skilled tasks from skilled workers jobs and give them to lower paid workers. British Prime Minister, David Cameron, a graduate of Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford and son of a rentier, has written a paper on eudaimonia in a collection on well-being and climate change, in which he skirts round the matter of structural inequality and argues that it is not government but societies, particularly families, that can improve our lives, though government can induce individuals and organizations to fulfil their wider social responsibilities (D. Cameron, 2008 Cameron, D. 2008. “In praise of general well-being”. In Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth?, Edited by: Simms, A. and Smith, J. 207–213. London: Constable. [Google Scholar]). Additional informationNotes on contributorsAndrew SayerAndrew Sayer is Professor of Social Theory and Political Economy in the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

Capability approach · Injustice · Employment and Welfare Studies · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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