Chapter 4 deals with the large problem of justice in the market. Because wealth is such a basic good in our societies, deciding where wealth goes and why it goes where it does is one of the most difficult questions with which any society must contend.

The chapter opens with the great Scottish philosopher Adam Smith’s discussion of how society can achieve its highest good. He concludes that the highest good for all will result if each individual member of society is allowed to pursue her or his own idea of the good (without interfering with others), so that everyone may cultivate the talents particular to her or him.

Joanne B. Ciulla develops the notion of exploitation, and discusses the extent to which exploitation of a person’s need is compatible with that person’s freedom.

In an excerpt from his famous work A Theory of Justice, American philosopher John Rawls describes what he calls “justice as fairness,” and argues that society should be structured to benefit all, which means arranging things to assist the most needy and the least naturally fortunate.

Michael Walzer, in “Tyranny and Complex Equality,” argues that no single good in a society should be dominant—that is, no particular good in society should be convertible into other goods such that a monopoly in the dominant good could allow a person to acquire monopolies in other goods.

In the excerpt from Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Robert Nozick offers his now-famous libertarian response to Rawls.

Irving Kristol argues (against Rawls and others) that capitalism does not require the creation of a common authority charged with redistributing wealth. Although we might have an obligation to help those less fortunate than ourselves, that does not mean we should have a centralized power (like a government and a tax structure) to tell us who, when, and how to help those persons.

Friedrich von Hayek similarly argues that the attempt to impose “social justice” on a healthy marketplace will in the end only harm the market and those whom the original action intended to help.

Gerald W. McEntee offers a simple, clear argument in defense of fairness in guaranteeing the equality of men’s and women’s earnings. Because the labor of men and women is of “comparable worth,” they should have comparable pay.

Finally, Greg Breining argues that the main reason a person becomes wealthy is simple chance.

By the close of Chapter 4, you should:

• Understand the concept of exploitation 
• Understand several different ways of thinking about the proper distribution of wealth and other goods 
• Understand how justice may interfere with the operation of a market 
• Understand why a businessperson should be concerned with the problem of poverty

Suggested Readings

John Arthurs and William H. Shaw, eds. Justice and Economic Distribution. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991.

An excellent reader covering many of the best thinkers on social justice and economics.

Mike Davis. “Gentrifying Disaster: New Orleans and the Obligation to Provide Low Income Housing.” Mother Jones, October 25, 2005.

John Kenneth Galbraith. The Economics of Innocent Fraud. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Suzanne Gamboa. “Groups Debate Costs of Educating Illegal Immigrant Children.” Associated Press, August 21, 2003.

Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein. The Cost of Rights. New York: Norton, 1999.

John Isbister. Capitalism and Justice. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2001.

David Cay Johnston. Perfectly Legal. New York: Penguin, 2003.

Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel. The Myth of Ownership. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. 

Robert Nozick. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1977.

Kevin Phillips. Wealth and Democracy. New York: Broadway Books, 2002.

John Rawls. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. New York: Belknap, 2001.

 

Websites

Read “How and How Much Should the Government Protect Intellectual Property? The Conundrum of China” at www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=34148

Follow an ongoing blog stemming from the Occupy Wall Street movement at http://occupywallst.org/

See an article with useful charts of data that explains what prompted the Occupy Wall Street protesters at http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1

See the website for a campaign to change Wal-Mart’s ethics at http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/

Get the latest on the pay gap between men and women at http://www.pay-equity.org/info.html

Find out more about an organization working against sweatshop labor at http://www.laborrights.org/creating-a-sweatfree-world/sweatshops

Get the facts about poverty in America at http://www.businessinsider.com/poverty-in-america-2012-9?op=1

Read about wealth trends among the wealthiest 1% of Americans at https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/how-much-you-need-to-earn-to-be-part-of-the-1-percent.html