Abstract
Equality is typically presumed to be an end of justice; however, in this chapter, we argue that it is better understood as a condition of justice. Our argument draws on the Just World Fallacy, the phenomenon of people mistakenly believing fortuitous patterns of reward or harm to be reflective of justice. This phenomenon can undermine relationships of equality even where differences in reward or harm are ostensibly deserved. If everyone received equal pay, then the propensity for people to defer to the more successful or derogate the less successful would be diminished, and thus there would be greater scope for people to enter into the sorts of relationships of equal respect and regard that just communities require.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, E. (1999). What is the point of equality? Ethics, 109(2), 287–337.
Anderson, E. (2010). The fundamental disagreement between luck egalitarians and relational egalitarians. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 40(Suppl. 1), 1–23.
Anderson, E., & Skorupski, J. (2008). Expanding the egalitarian toolbox: Equality and bureaucracy. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 82(1), Supplementary Volume, 139–160.
Arneson, R. J. (1997). Egalitarianism and the undeserving poor. Journal of Political Philosophy, 5(4), 327–350.
Arneson, R. J. (2012). Rethinking luck egalitarianism and unacceptable inequalities. Philosophical Topics, 40(1), 153–169.
Correia, I., Vala, J., & Aguiar, P. (2001). The effects of belief in a just world and victim’s innocence on secondary victimization, judgements of justice and deservingness. Social Justice Research, 14(3), 327–342.
Dworkin, R. (2003). Equality, luck and hierarchy. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 31(2), 190–198.
Freeman, R. E., & Liedtka, J. (1991). Corporate social responsibility: A critical approach. Business Horizons, 34(4), 92–98.
Furnham, A. (2003). Belief in a just world: Research progress over the past decade. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(5), 795–817.
Hagiwara, N., Alderson, C. J., & McCauley, J. M. (2015). “We get what we deserve”: The belief in a just world and its health consequences for Blacks. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 38(6), 912–921.
Hammock, G. S., & Richardson, D. (1993). Blaming drunk victims: Is it just world or sex role violation? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(19), 1574–1586.
Heath, J. (2014). Morality, competition and the firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Heckscher, C., & Adler, P. (2007). The firm as collaborative community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2004). A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25(6), 881–919.
Kasperbauer, T. J. (2015). Psychological constraints on egalitarianism: The challenge of just world beliefs. Res Publica, 21(3), 217–234.
Kristjánsson, K. (2004). Children and the belief in a just world. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 23(1), 41–60.
Lerner, M. J. (1965). Evaluation of performance as a function of performer’s reward and attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1(4), 355–360.
Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Lerner, M. J., & Miller, D. T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 85(5), 1030–1051.
Lerner, M. J., & Simmons, C. H. (1966). Observer’s reaction to the “innocent victim”: Compassion or rejection? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4(2), 203–210.
Néron, P. Y. (2010). Business and the polis: What does it mean to see corporations as political actors? Journal of Business Ethics, 94(3), 333–352.
Néron, P. Y. (2015). Rethinking the very idea of egalitarian markets and corporations: Why relationships might matter more than distribution. Business Ethics Quarterly, 25(1), 93–124.
Rawls, J. (1975). A theory of justice (Revised ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ritter, C., Benson, D. E., & Synder, C. (1990). Belief in a just world and depression. Sociological Perspectives, 33(2), 235–252.
Robinson, R. (2019). The management nexus of imperfect duty: Kantian views of virtuous relations, reasoned discourse, and due diligence. Journal of Business Ethics, 157(1), 119–136.
Rubin, Z., & Peplau, A. (1975). Who believes in a just world? Journal of Social Issues, 31(3), 65–89.
Schmitt, M., Kilders, M., Mösle, A., & Müller, L. (1991). Gerechte-Welt-Glaube, Gewinn und Verlust: Rechtfertigung oder ausgleichende Gerechtigkeit? Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 22(1), 37–45.
Sinnicks, M. (2020). The just world fallacy as a challenge to the business-as-community thesis. Business & Society, 59(6), 1269–1292.
Sison, A. J. G., & Fontrodona, J. (2012). The common good of the firm in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 211–246.
Solomon, R. C. (1994). The corporation as community. Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(3), 271–285.
Wolff, J. (1998). Fairness, respect, and the egalitarian ethos. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 27(2), 97–122.
Wolff, J. (2010). Fairness, respect and the egalitarian ethos revisited. The Journal of Ethics, 14(3/4), 335–350.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pointon, D., Sinnicks, M. (2021). Equal Pay as a Precondition of Justice?. In: Örtenblad, A. (eds) Debating Equal Pay for All. Palgrave Debates in Business and Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53575-9_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53575-9_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-53574-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-53575-9
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)