Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. While in participative managementorganizational designs workers are listened to and take part in the decision-making
process, in organizations employing industrial democracy they also have
the final decisive power (they decide about organizational design and hierarchy as well).
In company law, the term generally used is co-determination, following the German word Mitbestimmung.
In Germany, companies with more than 2000 employees (or more than 1000
employees in the coal and steel industries) have half of their
supervisory boards of directors (which elect management) elected by the
shareholders and half by the workers.
Although industrial democracy generally refers to the
organization model in which workplaces are run directly by the people
who work in them in place of private or state ownership of the means of production,
there are also representative forms of industrial democracy.
Representative industrial democracy includes decision-making structures
such as the formation of committees and consultative bodies to facilitate communication between management, unions, and staff.
Rationale
Advocates often point out that industrial democracy increases productivity and service delivery from a more fully engaged and happierworkforce.
Other benefits include less industrial dispute resulting from better
communication in the workplace; improved and inclusive decision-making
processes resulting in qualitatively better workplace decisions,
decreased stress and increased well-being, an increase in job satisfaction, a reduction in absenteeism and an improved sense of fulfillment. Other authors regard industrial democracy as a consequence of citizenship rights.
At the point of production, the introduction of mandatory works
councils and voluntary schemes of workers' participation (e.g.
semi-autonomous groups) have a long tradition in European countries.
In a number of European countries, employees of a business take part
in election of company directors. In Germany, the law is known as the Mitbestimmungsgesetz of 1976. In Britain a 1977 proposal for a similar system was named the Bullock Report.
History
The anarchist thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
used the term "industrial democracy" in the 1850s to describe the
vision of workplace democracy he had first raised in the 1840s with What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government,
(management "must be chosen from the workers by the workers themselves,
and must fulfil the conditions of eligibility.") He repeated this call
in later works like General Idea of the Revolution.
While the influence of the movements promoting industrial democracy declined after the defeat of the anarchists in the Spanish Revolution
in 1939, several unions and organizations advocating the arrangement
continue to exist and are again on the rise internationally.
The Industrial Workers of the World advance an industrial unionism which would organize all the workers, regardless of skill, gender or race, into one big union
divided into a series of departments corresponding to different
industries. The industrial unions would be the embryonic form of future post-capitalist production. Once sufficiently organized, the industrial unions would overthrow capitalism by means of a general strike, and carry on production through worker run enterprises without bosses or the wage system. Anarcho-syndicalist unions, like the ConfederaciĆ³n Nacional del Trabajo,
are similar in their means and ends but organize workers into
geographically based and federated syndicates rather than industrial
unions.
The European Union emphasizes collective negotiations and public consultation
compared to the United States, which tends to emphasize either the free
market, or other countries which emphasize government regulations. Industrial democracy in the EU has changed over time. In the 1990s, it was associated with democratic social economics.
Modern
industrial economies have adopted several aspects of industrial
democracy to improve productivity and as reformist measures against
industrial disputes. Often referred to as "teamworking", this form of
industrial democracy has been practiced in Scandinavia, Germany, the
Netherlands and the UK as well as in several Japanese companies such as Toyota, as an effective alternative to Taylorism.
The term is often used synonymously with workplace democracy, in which the traditional master-servant model of employment gives way to a participative, power-sharing model.
Allegory with a portrait of a Venetian senator (Allegory of the morality of earthly things), attributed to Tintoretto, 1585
Morality (from Latinmoralitas 'manner, character, proper behavior') is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal. Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness".
Immorality is the active opposition to morality (i.e. opposition to that which is good or right), while amorality
is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward, or
disbelief in any particular set of moral standards or principles.
Immanuel Kant introduced the categorical imperative: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."
Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is the branch of philosophy
which addresses questions of morality. The word "ethics" is "commonly
used interchangeably with 'morality', and sometimes it is used more
narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group,
or individual." Likewise, certain types of ethical theories, especially deontological ethics,
sometimes distinguish between ethics and morals: "Although the morality
of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing, there is a usage
that restricts morality to systems such as that of Immanuel Kant, based on notions such as duty, obligation, and principles of conduct, reserving ethics for the more Aristotelian approach to practical reasoning, based on the notion of a virtue, and generally avoiding the separation of 'moral' considerations from other practical considerations."
For a Chinese discussion of ethics, morality and humanism see Confucius, Laozi, and daode
Descriptive and normative
In its descriptive sense, "morality" refers to personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores
from a society that provides these codes of conduct in which it applies
and is accepted by an individual. It does not connote objective claims
of right or wrong, but only refers to that which is considered right or
wrong. Descriptive ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies morality in this sense.
In its normative sense, "morality" refers to whatever (if anything) is actually right or wrong, which may be independent of the values or mores held by any particular peoples or cultures. Normative ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies morality in this sense.
Realism and anti-realism
Philosophical theories on the nature and origins of morality (that is, theories of meta-ethics) are broadly divided into two classes:
Moral realism
is the class of theories which hold that there are true moral
statements that report objective moral facts. For example, while they
might concede that forces of social conformity significantly shape individuals' "moral" decisions, they deny that those cultural norms and customs define morally right behavior. This may be the philosophical view propounded by ethical naturalists, however not all moral realists accept that position (e.g. ethical non-naturalists).
Moral anti-realism,
on the other hand, holds that moral statements either fail or do not
even attempt to report objective moral facts. Instead, they hold that
moral sentences are either categorically false claims of objective moral
facts (error theory); claims about subjective attitudes rather than objective facts (ethical subjectivism);
or else do not attempt to describe the world at all but rather
something else, like an expression of an emotion or the issuance of a
command (non-cognitivism).
Some forms of non-cognitivism and ethical subjectivism, while considered anti-realist in the robust sense used here, are considered realist in the sense synonymous with moral universalism. For example, universal prescriptivism is a universalist form of non-cognitivism which claims that morality is derived from reasoning about implied imperatives, and divine command theory and ideal observer theory
are universalist forms of ethical subjectivism which claim that
morality is derived from the edicts of a god or the hypothetical decrees
of a perfectly rational being, respectively.
Anthropology
Morality with Practical Reasoning
Practical reason is necessary for the moral agency but it is not a sufficient condition for moral agency.
Real life issues that need solutions do need both rationality and
emotion to be sufficiently moral. One uses rationality as a pathway to
the ultimate decision, but the environment and emotions towards the
environment at the moment must be a factor for the result to be truly
moral, as morality is subject to culture. Something can only be morally
acceptable if the culture as a whole has accepted this to be true.
Practical reason and relevant emotional considerations are both
considered important for a decision to be moral.
Tribal and territorial
Celia Green made a distinction between tribal and territorial morality.
She characterizes the latter as predominantly negative and
proscriptive: it defines a person's territory, including his or her
property and dependents, which is not to be damaged or interfered with.
Apart from these proscriptions, territorial morality is permissive,
allowing the individual whatever behaviour does not interfere with the
territory of another. By contrast, tribal morality is prescriptive,
imposing the norms of the collective on the individual. These norms will
be arbitrary, culturally dependent and 'flexible', whereas territorial
morality aims at rules which are universal and absolute, such as Kant's 'categorical imperative' and Geisler's graded absolutism.
Green relates the development of territorial morality to the rise of
the concept of private property, and the ascendancy of contract over
status.
Some observers hold that individuals apply distinct sets of moral rules to people depending on their membership of an "in-group"
(the individual and those they believe to be of the same group) or an
"out-group" (people not entitled to be treated according to the same
rules). Some biologists, anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists
believe this in-group/out-group discrimination has evolved because it
enhances group survival. This belief has been confirmed by simple
computational models of evolution.
In simulations this discrimination can result in both unexpected
cooperation towards the in-group and irrational hostility towards the
out-group. Gary R. Johnson and V.S. Falger have argued that nationalism and patriotism are forms of this in-group/out-group boundary. Jonathan Haidt has noted that experimental observation indicating an in-group criterion provides one moral foundation substantially used by conservatives, but far less so by liberals.
In-group preference is also helpful at the individual level for
the passing on of one's genes. For example, a mother who favors her own
children more highly than the children of other people will give greater
resources to her children than she will to strangers', thus heightening
her children's chances of survival and her own gene's chances of being
perpetuated. Due to this, within a population, there is substantial selection pressure
exerted toward this kind of self-interest, such that eventually, all
parents wind up favoring their own children (the in-group) over other
children (the out-group).
Comparing cultures
Peterson and Seligman
approach the anthropological view looking across cultures, geo-cultural
areas and across millennia. They conclude that certain virtues have
prevailed in all cultures they examined. The major virtues they
identified include wisdom / knowledge; courage; humanity; justice; temperance; and transcendence. Each of these includes several divisions. For instance humanity includes love, kindness, and social intelligence.
Still, others theorize that morality is not always absolute,
contending that moral issues often differ along cultural lines. A 2014
PEW research study among several nations illuminates significant
cultural differences among issues commonly related to morality,
including divorce, extramarital affairs, homosexuality, gambling,
abortion, alcohol use, contraceptive use, and premarital sex. Each of
the 40 countries in this study has a range of percentages according to
what percentage of each country believes the common moral issues are
acceptable, unacceptable, or not moral issues at all. Each percentage
regarding the significance of the moral issue varies greatly on the
culture in which the moral issue is presented.
Advocates of a theory known as moral relativism subscribe to the
notion that moral virtues are right or wrong only within the context of a
certain standpoint (e.g., cultural community). In other words, what is
morally acceptable in one culture may be taboo in another. They
further contend that no moral virtue can objectively be proven right or
wrong
Critics of moral relativism point to historical atrocities such as
infanticide, slavery, or genocide as counter arguments, noting the
difficulty in accepting these actions simply through cultural lenses.
Fons Trompenaars, author of Did the Pedestrian Die?, tested members of different cultures with various moral dilemmas.
One of these was whether the driver of a car would have his friend, a
passenger riding in the car, lie in order to protect the driver from the
consequences of driving too fast and hitting a pedestrian. Trompenaars
found that different cultures had quite different expectations, from
none to definite.
The development of modern morality is a process closely tied to sociocultural evolution. Some evolutionary biologists, particularly sociobiologists, believe that morality is a product of evolutionary forces acting at an individual level and also at the group level through group selection
(although to what degree this actually occurs is a controversial topic
in evolutionary theory). Some sociobiologists contend that the set of
behaviors that constitute morality evolved largely because they provided
possible survival or reproductive benefits (i.e. increased evolutionary
success). Humans consequently evolved "pro-social" emotions, such as
feelings of empathy or guilt, in response to these moral behaviors.
On this understanding, moralities are sets of self-perpetuating and biologically driven behaviors which encourage human cooperation. Biologists contend that all social animals, from ants to elephants, have modified their behaviors, by restraining immediate selfishness
in order to improve their evolutionary fitness. Human morality,
although sophisticated and complex relative to the moralities of other
animals, is essentially a natural phenomenon that evolved to restrict
excessive individualism that could undermine a group's cohesion and
thereby reducing the individuals' fitness.
On this view, moral codes are ultimately founded on emotional
instincts and intuitions that were selected for in the past because they
aided survival and reproduction (inclusive fitness). Examples: the maternal bond is selected for because it improves the survival of offspring; the Westermarck effect, where close proximity during early years reduces mutual sexual attraction, underpins taboos against incest because it decreases the likelihood of genetically risky behaviour such as inbreeding.
The phenomenon of reciprocity
in nature is seen by evolutionary biologists as one way to begin to
understand human morality. Its function is typically to ensure a
reliable supply of essential resources, especially for animals living in
a habitat where food quantity or quality fluctuates unpredictably. For
example, some vampire bats
fail to feed on prey some nights while others manage to consume a
surplus. Bats that did eat will then regurgitate part of their blood
meal to save a conspecific
from starvation. Since these animals live in close-knit groups over
many years, an individual can count on other group members to return the
favor on nights when it goes hungry (Wilkinson, 1984)
Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce (2009) have argued that morality
is a suite of behavioral capacities likely shared by all mammals living
in complex social groups (e.g., wolves, coyotes, elephants, dolphins,
rats, chimpanzees). They define morality as "a suite of interrelated
other-regarding behaviors that cultivate and regulate complex
interactions within social groups." This suite of behaviors includes
empathy, reciprocity, altruism, cooperation, and a sense of fairness. In related work, it has been convincingly demonstrated that chimpanzees show empathy for each other in a wide variety of contexts. They also possess the ability to engage in deception, and a level of social politics prototypical of our own tendencies for gossip and reputation management.
Christopher Boehm (1982) has hypothesized that the incremental development of moral complexity throughout hominid
evolution was due to the increasing need to avoid disputes and injuries
in moving to open savanna and developing stone weapons. Other theories
are that increasing complexity was simply a correlate of increasing
group size and brain size, and in particular the development of theory of mind abilities.
In modern moral psychology,
morality is sometimes considered to change through personal
development. Several psychologists have produced theories on the
development of morals, usually going through stages of different morals.
Lawrence Kohlberg, Jean Piaget, and Elliot Turiel have cognitive-developmental approaches to moral development; to these theorists morality forms in a series of constructive stages or domains. In the Ethics of care approach established by Carol Gilligan, moral development occurs in the context of caring, mutually responsive relationships which are based on interdependence, particularly in parenting but also in social relationships generally. Social psychologists such as Martin Hoffman and Jonathan Haidt emphasize social and emotional development based on biology, such as empathy. Moral identity theorists, such as William Damon and Mordechai Nisan,
see moral commitment as arising from the development of a self-identity
that is defined by moral purposes: this moral self-identity leads to a
sense of responsibility to pursue such purposes. Of historical interest
in psychology are the theories of psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud, who believe that moral development is the product of aspects of the super-ego
as guilt-shame avoidance. Theories of moral development therefore tend
to regard it as positive moral development: the higher stages are
morally higher, though this, naturally, involves a circular argument.
The higher stages are better because they are higher, but the better
higher because they are better.
As an alternative to viewing morality as an individual trait,
some sociologists as well as social- and discursive psychologists have
taken upon themselves to study the in-vivo aspects of morality by examining how persons conduct themselves in social interaction.
Moral cognition
Moral
cognition refers to cognitive processes implicated in moral judgment
and decision making, and moral action. It consists of several
domain-general cognitive processes, ranging from perception of a morally
salient stimulus to reasoning when faced with a moral dilemma. While
it's important to mention that there is not a single cognitive faculty
dedicated exclusively to moral cognition,characterizing the contributions of domain-general processes to moral
behavior is a critical scientific endeavor to understand how morality
works and how it can be improved.
Cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists investigate the
inputs to these cognitive processes and their interactions, as well as
how these contribute to moral behavior by running controlled
experiments.
In these experiments putatively moral versus nonmoral stimuli are
compared to each other, while controlling for other variables such as
content or working memory load. Often, the differential neural response
to specifically moral statements or scenes, are examined using
functional neuroimaging experiments.
Critically, the specific cognitive processes that are involved depend on the prototypical situation that a person encounters.
For instance, while situations that require an active decision on a
moral dilemma may require active reasoning, an immediate reaction to a
shocking moral violation may involve quick, affect-laden processes.
Nonetheless, certain cognitive skills such as being able to attribute
mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, emotions to oneself, and others
is a common feature of a broad range of prototypical situations. In
line with this, a meta-analysis found overlapping activity between moral emotion and moral reasoning tasks, suggesting a shared neural network for both tasks. The results of this meta-analysis, however, also demonstrated that the processing of moral input is affected by task demands.
Regarding the issues of morality in video games, some scholars
believe that because players appear in video games as actors, they
maintain a distance between their sense of self and the role of the game
in terms of imagination. Therefore, the decision-making and moral
behavior of players in the game are not representing player's Moral
dogma.
It has been recently found that moral judgment consists in
concurrent evaluations of three different components that align with
precepts from three dominant moral theories (virtue ethics, deontology,
and consequentialism): the character of a person (Agent-component, A);
their actions (Deed-component, D); and the consequences brought about in
the situation (Consequences-component, C). This, implies that various inputs of the situation a person encounters affect moral cognition.
The brain areas that are consistently involved when humans reason
about moral issues have been investigated by multiple quantitative
large-scale meta-analyses of the brain activity changes reported in the
moral neuroscience literature.
The neural network underlying moral decisions overlaps with the network
pertaining to representing others' intentions (i.e., theory of mind)
and the network pertaining to representing others' (vicariously
experienced) emotional states (i.e., empathy). This supports the notion
that moral reasoning is related to both seeing things from other
persons' points of view and to grasping others' feelings. These results
provide evidence that the neural network underlying moral decisions is
probably domain-global (i.e., there might be no such things as a "moral
module" in the human brain) and might be dissociable into cognitive and
affective sub-systems.
Brain areas
An
essential, shared component of moral judgment involves the capacity to
detect morally salient content within a given social context. Recent
research implicated the salience network in this initial detection of moral content. The salience network responds to behaviorally salient events and may be critical to modulate downstream default and frontal control
network interactions in the service of complex moral reasoning and
decision-making processes.
The explicit making of moral right and wrong judgments coincides with activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) while intuitive reactions to situations containing implicit moral issues activates the temporoparietal junction area.
Stimulation of the VMPC by transcranial magnetic stimulation,
has been shown to inhibit the ability of human subjects to take into
account intent when forming a moral judgment. According to this
investigation, TMS did not disrupt participants' ability to make any
moral judgment. On the contrary, moral judgments of intentional harms
and non-harms were unaffected by TMS to either the RTPJ or the control
site; presumably, however, people typically make moral judgments of
intentional harms by considering not only the action's harmful outcome
but the agent's intentions and beliefs. So why were moral judgments of
intentional harms not affected by TMS to the RTPJ? One possibility is
that moral judgments typically reflect a weighted function of any
morally relevant information that is available at the time. Based on
this view, when information concerning the agent's belief is unavailable
or degraded, the resulting moral judgment simply reflects a higher
weighting of other
morally relevant factors (e.g., outcome). Alternatively, following TMS
to the RTPJ, moral judgments might be made via an abnormal processing
route that does not take belief into account. On either account, when
belief information is degraded or unavailable, moral judgments are
shifted toward other morally relevant factors (e.g., outcome). For
intentional harms and non-harms, however, the outcome suggests the same
moral judgment as to the intention. Thus, the researchers suggest that
TMS to the RTPJ disrupted the processing of negative beliefs for both
intentional harms and attempted harms, but the current design allowed
the investigators to detect this effect only in the case of attempted
harms, in which the neutral outcomes did not afford harsh moral
judgments on their own.
Similarly VMPC-impaired persons will judge an action purely on
its outcome and are unable to take into account the intent of that
action.
Mirror neurons
Mirror neurons
are neurons in the brain that fire when another person is observed
doing a certain action. The neurons fire in imitation of the action
being observed, causing the same muscles to act minutely in the observer
as are acting grossly in the person actually performing the action.
Research on mirror neurons, since their discovery in 1996, suggests that they may have a role to play not only in action understanding, but also in emotion sharing empathy. Cognitive neuroscientist Jean Decety
thinks that the ability to recognize and vicariously experience what
another individual is undergoing was a key step forward in the evolution
of social behavior, and ultimately, morality. The inability to feel empathy is one of the defining characteristics of psychopathy, and this would appear to lend support to Decety's view.
Genetics
Moral intuitions may have genetic bases. A 2022 study conducted by scholars Michael Zakharin and Timothy C. Bates, and published by the European Journal of Personality, found that moral foundations have significant genetic bases.
Another study, conducted by Smith and Hatemi, similarly found
significant evidence in support of moral heritability by looking at and
comparing the answers of moral dilemmas between twins.
Politics
If morality is the answer to the question 'how ought we to live' at the individual level, politics
can be seen as addressing the same question at the social level, though
the political sphere raises additional problems and challenges. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence has been found of a relationship between attitudes in morality and politics. Moral foundations theory, authored by Jonathan Haidt and colleagues, has been used to study the differences between liberals and conservatives, in this regard.
Haidt found that Americans who identified as liberals tended to value
care and fairness higher than loyalty, respect and purity.
Self-identified conservative Americans valued care and fairness less and
the remaining three values more. Both groups gave care the highest
over-all weighting, but conservatives valued fairness the lowest,
whereas liberals valued purity the lowest. Haidt also hypothesizes that
the origin of this division in the United States can be traced to
geo-historical factors, with conservatism strongest in closely knit,
ethnically homogenous communities, in contrast to port-cities, where the cultural mix is greater, thus requiring more liberalism.
Group morality develops from shared concepts and beliefs and is often codified to regulate behavior within a culture
or community. Various defined actions come to be called moral or
immoral. Individuals who choose moral action are popularly held to
possess "moral fiber", whereas those who indulge in immoral behavior may
be labeled as socially degenerate. The continued existence of a group
may depend on widespread conformity to codes of morality; an inability
to adjust moral codes in response to new challenges is sometimes
credited with the demise of a community (a positive example would be the
function of Cistercian reform in reviving monasticism; a negative example would be the role of the Dowager Empress in the subjugation of China to European interests). Within nationalist
movements, there has been some tendency to feel that a nation will not
survive or prosper without acknowledging one common morality, regardless
of its content.
Political morality is also relevant to the behavior
internationally of national governments, and to the support they receive
from their host population. The Sentience Institute, co-founded by Jacy Reese Anthis, analyzes the trajectory of moral progress in society via the framework of an expanding moral circle. Noam Chomsky states that
... if we adopt the principle of universality: if an
action is right (or wrong) for others, it is right (or wrong) for us.
Those who do not rise to the minimal moral level of applying to
themselves the standards they apply to others—more stringent ones, in
fact—plainly cannot be taken seriously when they speak of
appropriateness of response; or of right and wrong, good and evil.
In fact, one of them, maybe the most, elementary of moral principles is
that of universality, that is, If something's right for me, it's right
for you; if it's wrong for you, it's wrong for me. Any moral code that
is even worth looking at has that at its core somehow.
Religion and morality are not synonymous. Morality does not depend
upon religion although for some this is "an almost automatic
assumption". According to The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics,
religion and morality "are to be defined differently and have no
definitional connections with each other. Conceptually and in principle,
morality and a religious value system are two distinct kinds of value
systems or action guides."
Positions
Within the wide range of moral traditions, religious value systems co-exist with contemporary secular frameworks such as consequentialism, freethought, humanism, utilitarianism, and others. There are many types of religious value systems. Modern monotheistic religions, such as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and to a certain degree others such as Sikhism and Zoroastrianism,
define right and wrong by the laws and rules set forth by their
respective scriptures and as interpreted by religious leaders within the
respective faith. Other religions spanning pantheistic to nontheistic tend to be less absolute. For example, within Buddhism, the intention of the individual and the circumstances should be accounted for in the form of Merit, to determine if an action is right or wrong termed. A further disparity between the values of religious traditions is pointed out by Barbara Stoler Miller,
who states that, in Hinduism, "practically, right and wrong are decided
according to the categories of social rank, kinship, and stages of
life. For modern Westerners, who have been raised on ideals of
universality and egalitarianism, this relativity of values and obligations is the aspect of Hinduism most difficult to understand".
Religions provide different ways of dealing with moral dilemmas. For example, there is no absolute prohibition on killing in Hinduism, which recognizes that it "may be inevitable and indeed necessary" in certain circumstances. In monotheistic traditions, certain acts are viewed in more absolute terms, such as abortion or divorce. Religion is not always positively associated with morality. Philosopher David Hume stated that, "the greatest crimes have been found, in many instances, to be compatible with a superstitious piety
and devotion; Hence it is justly regarded as unsafe to draw any
inference in favor of a man's morals, from the fervor or strictness of
his religious exercises, even though he himself believe them sincere."
Religious value systems can also be used to justify acts that are contrary to contemporary morality, such as massacres, misogyny and slavery. For example, Simon Blackburn
states that "apologists for Hinduism defend or explain away its
involvement with the caste system, and apologists for Islam defend or
explain away its harsh penal code or its attitude to women and
infidels". In regard to Christianity, he states that the "Bible
can be read as giving us a carte blanche for harsh attitudes to
children, the mentally handicapped, animals, the environment, the
divorced, unbelievers, people with various sexual habits, and elderly
women", and notes morally suspect themes in the Bible's New Testament as well. Elizabeth Anderson likewise holds that "the Bible contains both good and evil teachings", and it is "morally inconsistent". Christian apologists address Blackburn's viewpoints and construe that Jewish laws in the Hebrew Bible
showed the evolution of moral standards towards protecting the
vulnerable, imposing a death penalty on those pursuing slavery and
treating slaves as persons and not property.
Humanists like Paul Kurtz believe that we can identify moral values
across cultures, even if we do not appeal to a supernatural or
universalist understanding of principles – values including integrity,
trustworthiness, benevolence, and fairness. These values can be
resources for finding common ground between believers and nonbelievers.
Empirical analyses
Several
studies have been conducted on the empirics of morality in various
countries, and the overall relationship between faith and crime is unclear.
A 2001 review of studies on this topic found "The existing evidence
surrounding the effect of religion on crime is varied, contested, and
inconclusive, and currently, no persuasive answer exists as to the
empirical relationship between religion and crime." Phil Zuckerman's 2008 book, Society without God, based on studies conducted during 14 months in Scandinavia in 2005–2006, notes that Denmark and Sweden,
"which are probably the least religious countries in the world, and
possibly in the history of the world", enjoy "among the lowest violent
crime rates in the world [and] the lowest levels of corruption in the
world".
Dozens of studies have been conducted on this topic since the twentieth century. A 2005 study by Gregory S. Paul published in the Journal of Religion and Society
stated that, "In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a
creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early
adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in
the prosperous democracies," and "In all secular developing democracies a
centuries long-term trend has seen homicide rates drop to historical
lows" with the exceptions being the United States (with a high
religiosity level) and "theistic" Portugal. In a response, Gary Jensen builds on and refines Paul's study.
he concludes that a "complex relationship" exists between religiosity
and homicide "with some dimensions of religiosity encouraging homicide
and other dimensions discouraging it". In April 2012, the results of a
study which tested their subjects' pro-social sentiments were published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science
journal in which non-religious people had higher scores showing that
they were more motivated by their own compassion to perform pro-social
behaviors. Religious people were found to be less motivated by
compassion to be charitable than by an inner sense of moral obligation.
Throughout history, workers claiming some sort of right have attempted to pursue their interests. During the Middle Ages, the Peasants' Revolt in England expressed demand for better wages and working conditions. One of the leaders of the revolt, John Ball famously argued that people were born equal saying, "When Adam delved and Eve
span, who was then the gentleman?" Laborers often appealed to
traditional rights. For instance, English peasants fought against the enclosure movement, which took traditionally communal lands and made them private.
The British Parliament passed the Factory Act 1833
which stated that children under the age of 9 could not work, children
aged 9–13 could only work 8 hours a day, and children aged 14–18 could
only work for 12 hours a day.
Labor rights are a relatively new addition to the modern corpus
of human rights. The modern concept of labor rights dates to the 19th
century after the creation of labor unions following the industrialization processes. Karl Marx
stands out as one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for
workers rights. His philosophy and economic theory focused on labor
issues and advocates his economic system of socialism, a society which would be ruled by the workers. Many of the social movements for the rights of the workers were associated with groups influenced by Marx such as the socialists and communists. More moderate democratic socialists and social democrats
supported worker's interests as well. More recent workers rights
advocacy has focused on the particular role, exploitation, and needs of
women workers, and of increasingly mobile global flows of casual,
service, or guest workers.
Core labor standards
Identified by the ILO in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, core labor standards are "widely recognized to be of particular importance".
They are universally applicable, regardless of whether the relevant
conventions have been ratified, the level of development of a country or
cultural values.
These standards are composed of qualitative, not quantitative standards
and don't establish a particular level of working conditions, wages or
health and safety standards.
They are not intended to undermine the comparative advantage that
developing countries may hold. Core labor standards are important human
rights and are recognized in widely ratified international human rights instruments including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC), the most widely ratified human rights treaty with 193 parties, and the ICCPR with 160 parties.
They have been incorporated into different provisions that are related
to labor in soft law instruments such as the UN's Global Compact, the
OECD Guidelines, and the ILO MNE Declaration.
The core labor standards are:
Freedom of association: workers are able to join trade unions that are independent of government and employer influence;
The right to collective bargaining: workers may negotiate with employers collectively, as opposed to individually;
The prohibition of all forms of forced labor: includes security from prison labor and slavery, and prevents workers from being forced to work under duress;
Elimination of the worst forms of child labor: implementing a minimum working age and certain working condition requirements for children;
Very few ILO member countries have ratified all of these conventions
due to domestic constraints yet as these rights are also recognised in
the UDHR, and form a part of customary international law
they are committed to respect these rights. For a discussion on the
incorporation of these core labor rights into the mechanisms of the World Trade Organization, see Labour standards in the World Trade Organization.
There are many other issues outside of this core, in the UK employee
rights includes the right to employment particulars, an itemised pay
statement, a disciplinary process at which they have the right to be
accompanied, daily breaks, rest breaks, paid holidays and more.
Labor rights issues
Aside
from the right to organize, labor movements have campaigned on various
other issues that may be said to relate to labor rights. The labor
movement began to improve the working conditions of the workers. Dating
back to 1768 the first strike of the New York journeyman tailors
protested a wage reduction. This marked the beginning of the movement.
Approaching the 18th century, labor unions were formed to improve the
working conditions for all of the workers. fought for better wages,
reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led
efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to
workers who were injured or retired. The following are explained more in
the following sections.
Hour limits
Many labor movement campaigns have to do with limiting hours in the work place. 19th century labor movements campaigned for an eight-hour day.
Worker advocacy groups have also sought to limit work hours, making a
working week of 40 hours or less standard in many countries. A 35-hour workweek
was established in France in 2000, although this standard has been
considerably weakened since then. Workers may agree with employers to
work for longer, but the extra hours are payable overtime. In the European Union the working week is limited to a maximum of 48 hours including overtime (see also Working Time Directive 2003).
Child labor
11Rose
Biodo, 1216 Annan St., Philadelphia. 10 years old. Working 3 summers.
Minds baby and carries berries, two pecks at a time. Whites Bog, Brown
Mills, N.J. This is the fourth week of school and the people here expect
to remain two weeks more. Witness E. F. Brown. Location: Browns Mills,
New Jersey / .
Labor rights advocates have also worked to combat child labor.
They see child labor as exploitative, and often economically damaging.
Child labor opponents often argue that working children are deprived of
an education. In 1948 and then again in 1989, the United Nations
declared that children have a right to social protection.
It is hard for children to fight for their basic rights,
especially at the workplace. They are often being under-treated.
Employers take advantage of child labor because they lack the ability to
bargain collectively and compromise to work at an unpleasant workplace.
Almost 95% of child labor occurs in developing countries. An example of an industry in which instances of child labor leading to severe injury or death that have been noted are cobaltmining in the DRC as well as copper mining in Zambia, where children were reported to be participating in all forms of mining at the expense of their education.
There is a growing concern that the rising demand for resources that
involve child labor for industries such as the production of electric vehiclebatteries, will only increase labor rights violations. In India and Pakistan, children work long hours in various industries because of the debt their parents incurred.
Poor families sometimes rely on their kids' income to pay bills.In
Egypt, about 1.5 million kids under 14 years old are working even though
there are child-protective labor laws.
In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
(FLSA) restricts the employment of children. The FLSA defines the
minimum age for employment to 14 years for non-agricultural jobs with
restrictions on hours, restricts the hours for youth under the age of
16, and prohibits the employment of children under the age of 18 in
occupations deemed hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.
In 2007, Massachusetts updated their child labor laws that required all minors to have work permits.
Workplace conditions
Labor rights advocates have worked to improve workplace conditions which meet established standards. During the Progressive Era, the United States began workplace reforms, which received publicity boosts from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and events such as the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Labor advocates and other groups often criticize production facilities with poor working conditions as sweatshops and occupational health hazards, and campaign for better labor practices and recognition of workers rights throughout the world.
Safety and social sustainability
Recent initiatives in the field of sustainability have included a focus on social sustainability, which includes promoting workers' rights and safe working conditions, prevention of human trafficking, and elimination of illegal child labor from the sustainably sourced products and services. Organizations such as the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of State
have released studies on products that have been identified as using
child labor and industries using or funded by human trafficking. Labor
rights are defined internationally by sources such as the Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI) and the International Finance Corporation performance standards.
Living wage
The labor movement pushes for guaranteed minimum wage
laws, and there are continuing negotiations about increases to the
minimum wage. However, opponents see minimum wage laws as limiting
employment opportunities for unskilled and entry level workers.
The benefits and costs of foreign direct investments
on labor rights are often argued. Payton and Woo's study shows that
even though "workers may not see drastic increases in minimum wages but
they will benefit marginally from better enforcement of existing minimum
wage laws or other protections granted in law, gradually improving
overall working conditions, as more FDI flows in."
Migrant workers
Legal migrant workers are sometimes abused. For instance, migrants have faced a number of alleged abuses in the United Arab Emirates (including Dubai). Human Rights Watch
lists several problems including "nonpayment of wages, extended working
hours without overtime compensation, unsafe working environments
resulting in death and injury, squalid living conditions in labor camps,
and withholding of passports and travel documents by employers.
Despite laws against the practice, employers confiscate migrant
workers' passports. Without their passports, workers cannot switch jobs
or return home.
These workers have little recourse for labor abuses, but conditions have been improving.
Labor and social welfare minister Ali bin Abdullah al-Kaabi has
undertaken a number of reforms to help improve labor practices in his
country.
The United Arab Emirates was condemned in a report issued in
April 2021 by the Democracy Centre for Transparency calling out the
nation for its abuse and discrimination of foreigners and expatriates
against Emirati citizens. According to DCT, foreigners and expatriates
in the UAE are often subjected to gender and wage discrimination,
racialization, trafficking, and forced labor. As per the research
conducted by the DCT, these issues remain unreported due to the threat
and intimidation from their employers in the form of job loss or
fabricated criminal charges. The discrimination and abuse have
reportedly continued despite the easing of the Kafala system
in the Emirate. The DCT concluded its report urging the UAE to address
the issues and put an end to the racial hierarchy and discrimination
against non-citizens.
Koelnmesse, the company responsible for managing the pavilion representing Germany
at the Expo 2020 reportedly signed an agreement with the Emirati
Transguard Group for laundry, cleaning, and security services. Rights
groups claim that during the signing of a framework agreement between
the two firms, evidence assuring human right due diligence was
overlooked. It is said that the firm withheld the passports and wages of
the workers earning relatively lesser than the minimum wage and
terminated them from the service without notice.
In neighbouring countries such as Qatar there is a similar
problem. Qatar has received a lot of criticism over the way it treats
it's workers, including those that have worked on FIFA World cup
projects.
Undocumented workers
The right to equal treatment, regardless of gender, origin and appearance, religion, sexual orientation, is also seen by many as a worker's right. Discrimination in the work place is illegal in many countries, but some see the wage gap between genders and other groups as a persistent problem.
Many migrant workers are not getting basic labor rights mainly
because they don't speak the local language, regardless of legal status. Some have noticed that they are not getting the correct amount of money on their paycheck while others are underpaid.
Undocumented workers in the United States
The National Labor Relations Act recognizes undocumented laborers as employees. However, the supreme court case Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB established that backpay could not be awarded to unlawfully fired undocumented employees due to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In this court decision, it was also stated that the U.S. would support FLSA and MSPA, without regard to whether or not someone is documented.
Undocumented workers also still have legal protection against
discrimination based on national origin. The decision of the Hoffman
supreme court case primarily has affected undocumented laborers by
preventing them from getting backpay and/or reinstatement.
While no undocumented individual is technically able to work in
the United States legally, undocumented workers make up 5% of the
workforce.
In the U.S., people who were born outside of the country tend to work
in riskier jobs and have a higher chance of encountering death on the
job. The low wage sectors, which many undocumented people work in, have
the highest rates of wage and hour violation.
Estimates claim that 31% of undocumented people work in service jobs.
Restaurant work in particular has a 12% rate of undocumented workers.
Undocumented people can and have joined labor unions, and are
even credited by a 2008 dissertation for "reinvigorating" the labor
movement.
Because the NLRA protects undocumented workers, it protects their right
to organize. However the NLRA excludes workers that are agricultural,
domestic, independent contractors, governmental, or related to their
employers.
The right to speak up against labor abuses was protected further by an
immigration reform bill in 2013 with the POWER act, which intended to
protect employees who spoke out against labor practices from facing
detention or deportation.
However, labor unions are not necessarily welcoming of immigrant
workers. Within unions, there have been internal struggles, such as when
Los Angeles immigrant janitors reorganized service workers. Being a
part of the union does not necessarily address all the needs of
immigrant workers, and thus winning power within the union is the first
step for immigrant workers to address their needs.
Immigrant workers often mobilize beyond unions, by campaigning in
their communities on intersectional issues of immigration,
discrimination, and police misconduct.
Globalization
In
March 2004, the World Commission on the Social Dimension of
Globalization issued a report called "A Fair Globalization: Creating
Opportunities for All".
The report acknowledges how potential globalization can affect labor
rights. Reforming globalization will require cooperation not only within
the country but also at the global level. It suggests political authorities to "renew their attention to global solidarity".
Workers' rights advocates have been concerned with how globalization
can impact labor rights in different countries. Some international
agencies and global corporations see strong enforcement will limit a
country's economic growth.
As companies outsource their work to workers from lower-wage countries,
governments will relax their regulation to attract businesses. As a result, poor countries implement a lower labor rights standard to compete with other countries. Layna Mosley's study shows that collective labor rights have declined since the recent global expansion started. By having multiple countries sign agreements and treaties,
labor rights are able to be protected across the globe. However, some
countries sign it even though they are not planning to follow the rules.
Therefore, there might be room for labor rights practices to suffer.
However, some argued that globalization can improve the labor
right enforcement by responding to other country's demands. Governments
will act in their national interests, so when an important trading
country urges for strong labor rights enforcement, they will act
accordingly.
Labor movement discrimination
Labor
unions formed throughout the industries. Labor unions in the crafts
discovered difficulty in forming labor unions at different skill levels.
These skill groups often got divided in racial and sexist ways. In 1895
the white only International Association of Machinists. Entering the
20th century African Americans moved from the south into the north only
to find that there was discrimination in economic opportunities. Racial
stereotypes were used to divide the working class and create
segregation. This eventually led to the creation of black codes and Jim Crow laws
to limit the ability for African Americans to create a living for
themselves. The Jim Crow laws passed in the 1800s were laws that forbade
African Americans from living in white neighborhoods, along with
segregation in public places. these were enforced for public pools,
phone booths, hospitals, asylums, jails and residential homes for the
elderly and handicapped and more.
Ethical socialism can be traced back to the utopian socialists, especially Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier, but also anarchists such as the French socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon as well as Italian revolutionaries and socialists such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini. Those utopian socialists, one of the first currents of modern socialist thought, presented visions and outlines for imaginary or futuristic ideal societies, characterized by the establishment of a moral economy, with positive ideals based on moral and ethical grounds being the main reason for moving society in such a direction. Before Marxists established a hegemony over definitions of socialism, the term socialism was a broad concept which referred to one or more of various theories aimed at solving the labour problem through radical changes in the capitalist economy. Descriptions of the problem, explanations of its causes and proposed solutions such as the abolition of private property or supporting cooperatives and public ownership varied among socialist philosophies.
Ethical socialism had a profound impact on the social democratic movement and reformism during the later half of the 20th century, particularly in Great Britain.
Ethical socialism is distinct in its focus on criticism of the ethics
of capitalism and not merely criticism of the economic, systemic, and
material issues of capitalism. When the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) renounced orthodox Marxism during the Godesberg Program in the 1950s, ethical socialism became the official philosophy within the SPD. The decision to abandon the traditional anti-capitalist policy angered many in the SPD who had supported it.
Some such as Ian Adams also argue that this was an abandonment of the
classical conception of socialism as involving the replacement of the
capitalist economic system and make a distinction between classical socialism and liberal socialism.
R. H. Tawney denounced self-seeking amoral and immoral behaviour that he claimed is supported by capitalism. Tawney opposed what he called the "acquisitive society" that causes private property to be used to transfer surplus profit to "functionless owners", i.e. capitalist rentiers. However, he did not denounce managers as a whole, believing that management and employees could join in a political alliance for reform. Tawney supported the pooling of surplus profit through means of progressive taxation to redistribute these funds to provide social welfare (including public health care, public education, and public housing) and the nationalization of strategic industries and services.
He supported worker participation in the business of management in the
economy as well as consumer, employee, employer and state cooperation in
regulating the economy.
Although Tawney supported a substantial role for public
enterprise in the economy, he stated that where private enterprise
provided a service that was commensurate with its rewards that was
functioning private property, then a business could be usefully and
legitimately be left in private hands. Thomas Hill Green supported the right of equal opportunity
for all individuals to be able freely appropriate property, but claimed
that acquisition of wealth did not imply that an individual could do
whatever they wanted to once that wealth was in their possession. Green opposed "property rights of the few" that were preventing the ownership of property by the many.
Ethical socialism was advocated and promoted by former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has been influenced by John Macmurray, himself influenced by Green. Blair has defined ethical socialism with similar notions promoted by earlier ethical socialists such as emphasis on the common good, rights, and responsibilities, and support of an organic society in which individuals flourish through cooperation. According to Blair, the Labour Party
ran into problems in the 1960s and 1970s when it abandoned ethical
socialism and believes that the party's recovery required a return to
the ethical socialist values last promoted by the Attlee government.
However, Blair's critics (both inside and outside Labour) have accused
him of completely abandoning socialism in favour of capitalism.
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