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Is Piecework a Private Concern? A Reply to Riley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2025

Dale E. Miller Open the ORCID record for Dale E. Miller [Opens in a new window]
Dale E. Miller*
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Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
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Email: demiller@odu.edu
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Abstract

In an earlier note in this journal, I located a contradiction in On Liberty. On the one hand, Mill describes piecework as a self-regarding “private concern” between employees and employers, one that does not harm other workers. On the other, he says that the competitors in economic markets harm each other. But workers compete in the labor market, and Mill does not deny that for some workers to accept payment by the piece may set back the interests of others. Jonathan Riley’s recent reply fails to demonstrate that Mill does not contradict himself. Riley’s argument depends on showing that in On Liberty Mill is presupposing that employers are employing a very specific model of piecework, one which Riley claims is self-regarding. However, Riley fails to establish that Mill is making this presupposition. Moreover, an employer’s choice to adopt piecework would not be self-regarding even if they did employ Riley’s model.

Keywords

J. S. MillPieceworkLiberty PrincipleHarm PrincipleJonathan Riley

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Utilitas , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2025 , pp. 337 - 342
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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