By considering that social justice is a principle for generating the basic structure of the society, three such approaches to social justice theory are known in the specialty literature: the approach based on fairness, the approach based on capability and the approach based on entitlement. Some considerations about each type of approach will be presented below. More
We are currently witnessing a reconfiguration of labour market requirements both in terms of employment and in terms of significant changes in skills and knowledge required by digital technologies, with an effect on contractual work arrangements. Under the influence of technology, especially digital technology, some jobs change, others disappear, others are created, thus we are witnessing a phenomenon of polarization of employment with implications, including on wages, leading to increasing inequalities in society. More
We find today, in the specialty literature, analyses and studies that focus on the quality of life, and these frame the concept of wellbeing as concerning the individual and referring to a state. In these works, the semantic features of the concept of wellbeing are formulated as follows: wellbeing refers to the person (the individual) – it considers the individual himself, not a certain social-historical individual; wellbeing refers to a state (static profile) – it is a “photograph” of the components of a state vector considered appropriate, representative, relevant and practicable for researching such a concept; wellbeing refers to a moment – the establishment of empirical values of the state vector that refers to the individual, at a certain moment. This is observed, from a theoretical and philosophical point of view, both at the level of the individual, as individual wellbeing with a strong idiosyncratic accent, and at the level of society as social welfare with an objective character. The concept of wellbeing remains in our attention also in this period when we attach great importance to individual safety issues, and I am referring here to health issues. More
Society is currently undergoing a series of transformations, as a result of the effects of the global pandemic, with consequences in all areas of our existence. Approaching from a conceptual point of view the present reality, the concept of entropy returns to the forefront. More precisely, the specialty literature approaches this concept from a new perspective, namely social entropy based on social justice, founded on the very close, logical relationship between social order and social entropy. Thus, considering that the three pillars on which our form of society is based are self-respect or moral dignity, freedom and democracy, then the concept of social order can be defined as a normative combination of freedom and democracy, which offers a certain measure of individual freedom. More
As I have shown, in a previous intervention, in which I explained the conceptual difference between the minimum salary (the actual minimum wage, with the particularity that is generated by the market, rigorously called “minimum nominal salary”) and the minimal wage (administrative wage, with the particularity that it is administratively established, rigorously called “minimal nominal salary”) in the present intervention I will argue about the self-testability of the minimal wage. I have also shown, in the same intervention, that the establishment of the minimal wage without using a method by which it is methodologically anchored by a macroeconomic indicator, relevant for ensuring sustainable economic growth, entails the possibility of it functioning as an instrument of social protection only. More
The syntagm “minimal wage” used instead the syntagm “minimum wage” is intentioned and requires a little bit of explanation. “Minimum wage” is used in the labour legislation, and signifies the lowest level of the administratively established nominal gross monthly wage in the economy, warranted in paying. In fact, what the law establishes is not the minimum level, but the minimal one. What is that meaning? The minimum wage is the actual wage in the real economy, and thus a wage level generated by the labour market. As a consequence, the minimum wage can vary from time to time and also, of course, it can vary related to the administratively established “minimum wage”, but never below the last. As the administratively established wage must be fixed (at least until the next normative changing), it seems be clear now why this wage must be called minimal but not minimum wage. More
Currently, one of the worst employment crises is in full swing, as a result of the health crisis, with consequences for increasing poverty and therefore economic and social inequality. Just a few of the effects on the labour market include:- Decreased employment, reduced number of hours worked, for those who kept their jobs;- Poor chances for graduates and other new entrants into the labour force to secure a job or even a part-time job;- The decrease in job supply from the dramatic decline in employment on the part of organizations (as we know, some temporary contracts of employees have not been renewed); More
The Reference Social Indicator (RSI) comes to our attention after a ten-year period in which its value has not changed. The lack of political stability and, sometimes, the irresponsibility of governing parties creates the risk of deviating the value of RSI, established by political decision, from the economic, social and moral significance with which this indicator is invested.Considering the consequences generated by the possible arbitrary situation in setting the RSI value, it is necessary in the near future to identify a methodological anchor for the dynamic adjustment of the RSI value, avoiding the incidence of the political factor in this matter. It is therefore necessary to identify a relevant macroeconomic indicator for anchoring the Reference Social Indicator (RSI), so that its variation can be done automatically (via the automatic stabilization mechanism) without the conjunctural intervention of the political factor. More
Referring to the extremes of economic behavior we can say that they are: a) the imperative norm and b) the absolute autonomy (we refer here to the individual freedom, which does not take into account the free choice of others). Focusing on the concept of freedom, it represents, according to Jonge (in his book “Rethinking Rational Choice Theory”), the autonomy of desires and not freedom of action. In Rawls’ opinion, freedom is first in the hierarchy of interests, higher interests becoming normative. More
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us, among other things, that the development of human knowledge can entail a series of risks that can endanger both the existence of the individual and of the society in which we live. In this time of crisis, an important concern is to achieve an appropriate balance between freedom and safety both at the level of the individual and at the level of society. More
The current period characterised at global level by the action of economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological crises is leading to the transformation of production and consumption systems, making it necessary to accept for a moment some compromises in the distribution of natural and human wealth in order to eliminate the economic and social inequalities that have appeared in our societies. The unequal distribution of prosperity is a factor that is currently generating growing political and social tensions. More
In modern society, the state remains the central element of political power and an essential factor in the sustainable development of a country. Together with its institutions, the state responds to emerging changes in society by multiplying its functions to ensure economic growth and to address a large part of the social needs it feels the need to manage. More
