Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T18:15:10.864Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From the Moral Limits of Markets to the Moral Limits of Welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2015

KATHERINE CURCHIN
KATHERINE CURCHIN*
Affiliation:
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Copland Building #24, College of Arts & Social Sciences, Australian National University, CanberraACT 0200 email: katherine.curchin@anu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The political philosopher Michael Sandel (2012) has recently argued compellingly for more attention to the moral limits of markets, arguing that market values can crowd out other values we should care about. Meanwhile, conservative advocates for welfare reform, such as the Australian Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson, have raised concerns about the impact of long-term welfare receipt on community values. Pearson's argument about welfare can be articulated in similar terms to Sandel's argument about markets. Pearson maintains that in heavily disadvantaged communities – such as the Aboriginal communities of Cape York Peninsula – the state's provision of non-contributory welfare can crowd out important values such as trust, respect, care for the weak and mutual help as well as self-reliance and hard work. Though Sandel's and Pearson's arguments find receptive audiences on different ends of the political spectrum, the parallels between their arguments are striking. The article seeks to promote greater scholarly engagement with Pearson's moral critique of welfare while expressing scepticism about one of the key correctives he proposes.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 101 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, J. (2001), ‘Sustainable Development Options on Aboriginal Land: The Hybrid Economy in the Twenty-first Century’, CAEPR Discussion Paper 226/2001. Canberra: CAEPR, ANU.Google Scholar
Altman, J. (2005), ‘Economic Futures on Aboriginal Land in Remote and Very Remote Australia: Hybrid Economies and Joint Ventures’, In Austin-Broos, D (ed) Culture, Economy and Governance in Aboriginal Australia. Sydney: University of Sydney Press.Google Scholar
Altman, J. (2007), ‘In the name of the market?’ In: Altman, J and Hinkson, M (eds) Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia. North Carlton: Arena Publications.Google Scholar
Ariel, D. (2009), Predictably Irrational. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Austin-Broos, D. (2009), Arrernte Past, Arrernte Present. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Banerjee, A. and Duflo, E. (2011), Poor Economics. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Bielefeld, S. (2012), ‘Compulsory income management and Indigenous Australians: Delivering social justice or furthering colonial domination?’ UNSW Law Journal 35 (2): 522–62.Google Scholar
Bowles, S. (1998), ‘Endogenous preferences: The cultural consequences of markets and other economic institutions’, Journal of Economic Literature, 36 (1): 75–111.Google Scholar
Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership (2005), Freedom, Capabilities and the Cape York Reform Agenda. Cairns: Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.cyi.org.au/.Google Scholar
Curchin, K. (2013), ‘Interrogating the Hybrid Economy Approach to Indigenous Development’ Australian Journal of Social Issues, 48 (1): 15–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R. and Ryan, R.M. (1999), ‘A Meta-Analytic Review of Experiments Examining the Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation’, Psychological Bulletin, 125 (6): 627–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Englander, D. (2013), Poverty and Poor Law Reform in Nineteenth Century Britain. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Fourcade, M. and Healy, K. (2007), ‘Moral views of market society’, Annual Review of Sociology, 33: 285–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, B. S., Oberholzer-Gee, F. and Eichenberger, R. (1996), ‘The Old Lady Visits Your Backyard: A Tale of Morals and Markets’, The Journal of Political Economy, 104 (6): 1297–1313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, B. S. and Oberholzer-Gee, F. (1997), ‘The Cost of Price Incentives: An Empirical Analysis of Motivation Crowding-Out’, American Economic Review, 87 (4): 746–55.Google Scholar
Frey, B. S. and Jegen, R. (2001), ‘Motivation Crowding Theory’, Journal of Economic Surveys, 15 (5): 589–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, M. (1996), ‘‘Race coding’ and White Opposition to Welfare’, American Political Science Review, 60: 593–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gneezy, U. and Rustichini, A. (2000a), ‘Pay Enough or Don't Pay at All’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115 (3): 791–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gneezy, U. and Rustichini, A. (2000b), ‘A Fine is a Price’, Journal of Legal Studies, 29 (1)1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (1993), ‘Moral atrophy in the Welfare State’, Policy Sciences, 26: 63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodin, R. E. (1998), ‘Social Welfare as a Collective Social Responsibility’. Social Welfare and Individual Responsibility: For and Against. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E., Headley, B., Muffels, R. and Dirven, H- J. (1999), The Real Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Himmelfarb, G. (1994), ‘A de-moralized society: The British/American experience’, Public Interest, 117: 57–80.Google Scholar
Hirschman, A. O. (1982), ‘Rival interpretations of market society: civilizing, destructive, or feeble?’, Journal of Economic Literature, 20: 1463–84.Google Scholar
Hughes, H. (2007), Lands of Shame. St Leonards: Centre for Independent Studies.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. (2013), ‘On Nudging and Fudging: Paternalism and Its Variants in Remote Aboriginal Australia’. In Craven, R, Dillon, A and Parbury, N (eds) In Black and White: Australians All at the Crossroads. Ballan, Connor Court: 145–156.Google Scholar
Kewley, T. H. (1973), Social Security in Australia 1900–72. Sydney: Sydney University Press.Google Scholar
Kunreuther, H. and Easterling, D. (1996), ‘The Role of Compensation in Siting Hazardous Facilities’, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 15 (4): 601–622.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malthus, T. (1999) [1798], An Essay on the Principle of Population, edited with an introduction and notes by Geoffrey Gilbert. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Marsland, D. (1996), Welfare or Welfare State. New York: St Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, D. (1995), ‘Money, Business and Culture: Issues for Aboriginal Economic Policy’. CAEPR Discussion Paper 101/1995. Canberra: CAEPR, ANU.Google Scholar
Martin, D. (2001), ‘Is welfare dependency ‘welfare poison’? An assessment of Noel Pearson‘s proposals for Aboriginal welfare reform’. CAEPR Discussion Paper 213/2001. Canberra: CAEPR, ANU.Google Scholar
McKnight, D. (2002), From Hunting to Drinking. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mead, L. (1991), ‘The new politics of the new poverty’, The Public Interest, 103: 3–20.Google Scholar
Mead, L. (2000), ‘Welfare reform and the family: lessons from America’. In: Saunders, P (ed.) Reforming the Australian Welfare State. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Murray, C. (1984), Losing Ground. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
O’Connor, B. (2001), ‘The intellectual origins of ‘welfare dependency’’. Australian Journal of Social Issues 36 (3): 221–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, N. (2000), Our Right to Take Responsibility. Cairns: Noel Pearson and Associates.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2001), ‘Rebuilding Indigenous communities’. In Botsman, P and Latham, M (eds) The Enabling State. Annadale: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2005), ‘Welfare reform and economic development for Indigenous communities’. ASX Auditorium, Sydney, 26 October.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2007), ‘Reciprocity resurrected’. The Australian, 12 May.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2009a), Up From The Mission. Melbourne: Black Inc.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2009b), Radical hope: education and equality in Australia. Melbourne: Black Inc.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2010), ‘Nights when I dream of a better world: Moving from the centre-left to the radical centre of Australian politics’. John Button Oration, Melbourne, 7 September.Google Scholar
Peterson, N. (2010), ‘Other People’s Lives: Secular Assimmilation, Culture and Ungovernability’ In Altman, J and Hinkson, M (eds) Culture Crisis: Anthropology and Politics in Aboriginal Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press.Google Scholar
Rowse, T. (1998), White Flour, White Power: From Rations to Citizenship in Central Australia. Camridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandel, M. (2012), What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. (1999), Unemployment Payments, the Activity Test and Indigenous Australians: Understanding Breach Rates. CAEPR Research Monograph 15. Canberra: CAEPR, ANU.Google Scholar
Satz, D. (2010), Why Some Things Should Not be for Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, P. (2007), The Government Giveth and the Government Taketh Away. St Leonards: The Centre for Independent Studies.Google Scholar
Schmidtz, D. (1998), ‘Taking Responsibility’. Social Welfare and Individual Responsibility: For and Against. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, P. (2009), The Politics of Suffering. Carlton: Melbourne University Publishing.Google Scholar
Thane, P. (1978) ‘Introduction’ in The Origins of British Social Policy, ed Thane, P.. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Titmuss, R. M. (1970), The Gift Relationship. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Tocqueville, A. de (1983) [1835], ‘Memoir on Pauperism’ trans. Seymour Drescher with an Introduction by Gertrude Himmelfarb, The Public Interest 70:102–120.Google Scholar
Wacquant, L. (2009), Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar