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Corporate Institutions in a Weakened Welfare State: A Rawlsian Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Sandrine Blanc  and
Ismael Al-Amoudi
Sandrine Blanc
Affiliation:
INSEEC Business School
Ismael Al-Amoudi
Affiliation:
University of Reading
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Abstract:

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This paper re-examines the import of Rawls’s theory of justice for private sector institutions in the face of the decline of the welfare state. The argument is based on a Rawlsian conception of justice as the establishment of a basic structure of society that guarantees a fair distribution of primary goods. We propose that the decline of the welfare state witnessed in Western countries over the past forty years prompts a reassessment of the boundaries of the basic structure in order to include additional corporate institutions. A discussion centered on the primary good of self-respect, but extensible to power and prerogatives as well as income and wealth, examines how the legislator should intervene in private sector institutions to counterbalance any unfairness that results from the decline of the welfare state.

Keywords

basic structurecorporate democracyjusticeRawlsself-respectwelfare state
Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 497 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2013

References

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