Divisions of labour: essays on the organisation of work

Thesis

This thesis concerns the relationship between justice and work. Inspired by recent developments in both practices and perceptions of work since the COVID-19 pandemic, the thesis explores new directions in the philosophy of work. It is comprised of six chapters: an introduction, a literature review, three discrete articles, and a conclusion. The first article, ‘Working from Home and Gender Justice’, asks whether a default employee entitlement to work from home would help or hinder gender justice; I argue that feminists should on balance support this policy on the grounds that it will significantly improve the employment opportunities of many caregivers, who are predominantly women. The second article, ‘Must Everyone Do Essential Work?’, distinguishes the question of who does essential work from how much they are compensated; I contend that while it could in theory be fair to allocate essential work via the market, the same is not true when it comes to the compensation of essential workers. The third article, ‘Publicly Justified Sin Taxes on Production’, adopts what is known as a public reason framework and asks whether it is legitimate for a liberal state to invoke contributive duties to justify public policies; answering in the affirmative, I argue that the state would be entitled to impose a higher rate of income tax on citizens who work in ‘sin’ industries on the grounds that they violate their contributive duties. The three articles, while concerned with distinct issues, are united by the question of how societies should organise work.

Authors: Clark, RL

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-yjn9jya0a
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: jobs; fairness; work; justice
• Subjects: Philosophy; Political science