CFP: 15th Braga Meetings on Ethics and Political Philosophy

CFA   15th Braga Meetings On Ethics and Political Philosophy   Organized by the Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society (CEPS) at the University of Minho (Braga, Portugal), June 25-27.   PANEL 15 / JUSTICE IN THE WORKPLACE: LABOR, EXPLOITATION, AND THE FUTURE OF WORK  CONVENORS:  HUGO RAJÃO, ANTÓNIO BAPTISTA and ALEXANDRE CARVALHO
All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected],  [email protected] and [email protected].

Contemporary studies are trying to address the implications of technological development in the workplace under the influence of capitalism and its relations of exploitation and domination. The industrial and French revolutions shaped labor and political relations to this day, laying the groundwork for Western capitalist societies. However, the growth of unprotected informal work, automation and AI, primarily replacing jobs held by low-skilled workers, remain persistent challenges. Western democracies struggle to grapple with these transformations, echoing, at least in some respects, the 19th century. However, what happens in the workplace should be regarded as a matter of Justice as much as what happens in society as a whole and, therefore, as a fundamental topic of Political Philosophy that raises a host of difficult questions.
Is labor exploitation a necessary element of capitalism and the predominant contemporary form of internal organization displayed by companies? In what way is exploitation compatible or not with the republican ideal of freedom as non-domination? Also, in what way does exploitation relate to, or may be affected by, the internal workings of the workplace? In what way is it related to the growth and perpetuation of social inequalities? If exploitation is, indeed, intrinsic to capitalism and to specific forms of internal organization of the workplace, and if it is so deeply intertwined with the perpetuation of objectionable forms of inequality, how should we address these problems? By enhancing workers’ exit options (UBI, for example) or by implementing new and fundamentally different forms of work organization? Can forms of “labor constitutionalism” and legal regulation – within a capitalist economic framework - be an alternative or a complementary device to the former? Or should we rather look for some more holistic reform of socioeconomic conditions, as the liberal-democratic form of socialism advocated by authors such as William
Edmundson (2017)? Is active worker participation in companies a necessary and sufficient condition to mitigate the negative effects of automation and AI? Are there alternative models of the enterprise, including non-capitalist ones, which better satisfy the requirements of a Just Society (co-opts, wage-earned funds, co-determination, bicameral systems, etc.)?

In light of this, this panel seeks to discuss the role and impact of workplace justice on the overall problem of Justice in a society and therefore invites contributions relating to, among others, the following topics:

• The future of Work
• Workplace Democracy
• Commodification, domination, and exploitation at the workplace.
• Exit options (Unconditional Basic Income, among others)
• The role of labor law and regulation
• Self-Employment
• The right to Strike and Unionize
• Property-Labor relations
• Alternatives to capitalism and their effectiveness in dealing with the challenges posed by AI and automation

  All proposals must be submitted online through our website using the Abstract submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-_2oEdliBHGBXNejD6MxeVU5mCVxR_yvrCv0chXKa_c/ Ensure that you select the correct panel throughout the filling of the form. Deadline for abstract submissions: February 14, 2025. Notification of decision: March 15, 2025 For further Information:  https://15bragameetings.weebly.com/p15---justice-in-the-workplace-labor-exploitation-and-the-future-of-work.html