January 12th 2012, 10:00 - January 13th 2012, 17:30
Priority in Practice Workshop on "Socioeconomic Justice: Beyond the Welfare State?"
Hosted by the Centre of Advanced Studies "Justitia Amplificata" Goethe University of Frankfurt (funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
Conference Venue
Campus Westend, Room 1.314 (“Eisenhower-Raum”), IG Hochhaus
Organizers
Stefan Gosepath and Christian Schemmel
For information on the Priority in Practice series, and previous workshops, see the homepage of its founder, Jo Wolff (University College, London) (http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uctyjow/PiP.htm)
Program
Thursday, 12th of January
10:00 Registration and Welcome Words
10:30-12:30
Claus Offe (Hertie School of Governance): "Basic Income and the Labour Contract"
Stuart White (University of Oxford): "Basic Capital - An Egalitarian Idea Whose Time Has Come...and Gone?"
Lunch
14:00-16:00
Martin O'Neill (University of York): "Beyond the Welfare State: Equality of Opportunity, Self-Respect, and the Division of Labour"
Christian Schemmel (University of Frankfurt): "What's Wrong with the Welfare State?"
16:00-16:30 Coffee Break
16:30-18:30
Jo Wolff (University College, London): "Prospects for Radical Reform"
Bo Rothstein (University of Gothenburg): "Creating a Sustainable Solidaristic Society: A Manual"
18:30 Drinks Reception
20:00 Dinner at InCantina (http://www.incantina.org/)
Friday, 13th of January
10:00-12:00
Andrea Sangiovanni (King's College, London): "Solidarity in the European Union"
Stefan Gosepath (University of Frankfurt): "Social Justice in the EU"
Lunch
13:00-15:00
Rainer Forst (University of Frankfurt): "Two Conceptions of 'Participatory Justice'"
Frank Nullmeier (University of Bremen): "Between Postliberalism and Protest Movements: Social Justice in an Age of Permanent Austerity"
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-17:30
Concluding Roundtable Discussion: "Justice and the Welfare State: European Perspectives" Participants: Jean Lambert, MEP for London, Green Party, Claus Offe and Stuart White.
*We sincerely apologise for the heavy gender imbalance - unfortunately, all but one of the invited female speakers declined.
Attendance is free, but registration is required for organization and catering purposes.
The Workshop Dinner costs 30 euro per person. Places are limited, and will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis.
In order to register, please contact Ms Valérie Bignon by the 21st of December (*specifying whether you wish to reserve a place for the Workshop Dinner, as well, and if so, whether you are vegetarian): [email protected]
A map of Campus Westend is available here:
www.gsefm.eu/gsefm/campus-westend.php
Workshop description
Theories of justice set up requirements for socioeconomic justice. The idea for the workshop is to have a closer look at the relationship between theories of justice and the institutionalization of requirements of socio-economic justice that they demand. The sets of theoretical questions that the relationship raises are at least two. The first is the apparently straightforward normative question which institutional arrangements are deemed to be normatively adequate from the point of view of justice. The second question is the more complicated question to which extent theories of justice, already at the level of theory-building, have to draw on existing empirical evidence and experience regarding the functioning of differing institutional arrangements, in order to avoid merely issuing normative demands “in a vacuum”, as it were. The second question hence leads directly back to the first, which consequently appears less straightforward.
In Western liberal democracies, the prime vehicle of institutionalization for socioeconomic justice has been, in the last 8 decades or so, the welfare state. Quite apart from being under threat in an increasingly globalised economy, the welfare state raises theoretical problems for theorists of justice: can a welfare state constitute an adequate implementation of liberal egalitarian theories of justice? Does theorizing social justice for liberal democracies have to start from an account of how the welfare state works, indicating proposals for improvement and reform rather than wholly alternative set-ups? John Rawls, in his later works, seemed to answer “no” to both questions, and recommended a regime of “property-owning democracy” instead, which merits a closer look. One of the main concerns underlying such proposals, and one that is interestingly raised from both the political right and the left, is that the welfare state is harmful to personal independence; on this basis, it has also been proposed to replace existing welfare arrangements by an unconditional basic income, or by a one-off stakeholder grant. Finally, existing welfare state regimes have also often been criticized for their exclusionary nature, for creating unjustifiable insider/outsider-dichotomies. Are these fair criticisms? Do they apply to all existing types of welfare regimes?
The workshop will take up these and related issues, bringing together philosophers and political scientists working on the welfare state.