This paper presents a critique of John Tomasi’s free market fairness: a theory that seeks to combine a robust conception of social justice with a thick conception of economic liberty. The main difference, according to Tomasi, between free market fairness and justice as fairness is that the former emphasizes the value of citizens’ agency, whereas the latter emphasizes the equal status of citizens. Focusing on the labor market and workplace governance, I argue that an argument for free market fairness cannot be made on agency grounds, and furthermore, that the theory is in fact damaging to the agency of workers. I do this by interpreting Elizabeth Anderson’s theory private government through the lens of agency, whereby I show how free market fairness fails to consider the agency – or lack of – after an employment contract has been entered. Moreover, I show how some of its principles conflict with strategies that are important for securing the agency of workers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-470510 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Deák, Hanna |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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