Meaningful Work, Worthwhile Life, and Self-Respect: Reexamination of the Rawlsian Perspective on Basic Income in a Property-Owning Democracy: Basic Income Studies Prize Winner for 2016

Fukuma Satoshi ()
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Fukuma Satoshi: Department of Regional Policy, Takasaki City University of Economics, Takasaki, Japan

Basic Income Studies, 2017, vol. 12, issue 1, 10

Abstract: As is well known, John Rawls opposes the idea and policy of basic income. However, this paper posits that his view of self-respect and activity could accommodate its implementation. Rawls lists the social basis of self-respect in social primary goods as the most important good, but does not assume that it is derived from wage labor alone. It appears that his theory of justice aims to criticize the work-centered (wage-labor) society and to overcome it. Besides, as Rawls desires, for our work to be meaningful and our life worthwhile, we should institutionalize basic income because it can improve workers’ bargaining power and their attitude toward work, in addition to enhancing their leisure time. In this paper, by considering the normative relationship between meaningful work, worthwhile life, and self-respect from a Rawlsian perspective, I inquire into the potential of basic income in his well-ordered society.

Keywords: John Rawls; the social basis of self-respect; meaningful work; worthwhile life; property-owning democracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1515/bis-2017-0011

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