Liberalism, Perfectionism and Workfare
Journal
Analyse & Kritik
ISSN
0171-5860
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2009-08-07
Author(s)
Abstract
Recent welfare reform has resulted in new work requirements for welfare recipients. These measures need to be justified, as they impair recipients' freedom. This paper first repudiates economic justifications for these developments and argues that the dominant justification is perfectionist. But unlike workfare, perfectionism is not necessarily paternalistic. The second part of the paper outlines a liberal perfectionism which allows only for autonomy-enhancing politics. Though even such autonomy-enhancing politics cannot be made obligatory. The last section concludes that workfare's paternalism cannot be attributed to perfectionist justifications, but rather stems from the narrow philosophy of work that is applied. The idea that enforced wage labour is a reliable tool for inducing autonomy is refuted. In the end, workfare needs to be rejected, as it is based on assumptions that are mistaken both normatively and empirically.
Language
English
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
No
Publisher
Lucius & Lucius
Publisher place
Stuttgart
Volume
31
Number
1
Start page
159
End page
180
Pages
22
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
58782
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
Henning_Perfectionism_Workfare_2009.pdf
Size
223.85 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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