Workplace Democracy and Meaningful Work

Matias Petersen (Universidad de los Andes, Chile); Joaquín Reyes (Universidad San Sebastián, Chile)

Concern for the negative effects of monotonous work is present in different traditions of thought. However, it is only in the 1980s that concern for meaningful work stars receiving a more systematic attention. Three important questions are usually discussed in this literature. The first one concerns what makes work meaningful. Some thinkers have argued that monotonous work can be contested for reasons of personal autonomy. In turn, Neo-Aristotelians have also engaged in discussions about what makes work meaningful, highlighting the potential it has for a flourishing and virtuous life. These accounts differ along several margins, such as whether meaningfulness is agent-relative or not, or what are the different human goods enabled by work.

The second question that has received attention in the literature is that of what role, if any, do political structures have in the promotion of meaningful work. Some scholars argue that a minimum level of meaningful work should be secured via some form of rights protection, while others suggest that this view i) seems to be at odds with the principle of state neutrality, or ii) that a politics of meaningful work faces serious incentive-compatibility and efficiency problems. Regardless of the different positions taken, most authors agree that work affects our identity. In other words, when persons devote a significant amount of time to a job where they are not autonomous, this leads to less autonomous lives on the whole.

Given this conundrum, some scholars have concluded that acknowledging the relevance of meaningful work seems to imply endorsing some form of economic democracy. Current debates on workplace democracy address the normative justification – or lack thereof – of institutional reforms that aim at democratising the firm.

The aim of this workshop is to address these and other relevant questions in the literature on meaningful work and workplace democracy. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Is there such a thing as ‘meaningful’ work? If so, what is it that makes work meaningful?
• What is the role, or lack thereof, of political structures in the promotion of meaningful work? Can there be meaningful work under capitalism?
• Are accounts of meaningful work committed to some form of economic democracy? Is equality in the workplace feasible?
• What is the relationship—if any—between economic inequality and workplace democracy?
• What is the relationship—if any–between labour under capitalistic structures and meaningful work?