Class
(1) Fair Pay & Inequality
Listening and Discussion - The Public Philosopher: Should a banker be paid more than a nurse?
Professor Michael Sandel at the LSE
Link to BBC iPlayer
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/r4sandel/r4sandel_20120410-0930b.mp3
Notes:
What is fair pay? (2:19)
Big pay differences are unjustified:
For
Income inequality is not good for wellbeing (Jonathan 3:15)
Luck - social class - not hard work (Alice 3:50)
Image of a banker - overweight man behind a desk (4:25)
Fair pay should reflect hard work (5:00)
Against
Creativity and intelligence also important (Wes 5:25)
Football players (6:00)
Aggregate choice - Market (7:00)
People who create the most deserve the highest pay
Kaley’s (8:09) counter argument - it’s about the size of the pay difference.
soccer/football player
Harry (9:40) accident of birth argument - income inequality shouldn’t respond to these things in such a dramatic way. Effort can also be affected by upbringing. The justice of the universe - luck - the lottery of life. How can the lucky deserve this vast advantage (12:00) Moral arbitrariness.
Ceilia (13:00) intrinsic value of the work - choosing from behind the veil of ignorance (Theory argued by John Rawls in his book A Theory of Justice).
Different from the market argument as markets don’t pass judgment on the intrinsic importance of the activities.
Charles (15:30) counter argument - nurse/doctor theoretically should be paid more in a free market as the rich would pay anything to to be cured but better to be in a society that sees health as a right. Huge banker’s pay doesn’t reflect risk therefore unfair. Intrinsic value should be one factor but not the only one.
Michael (19:00) best way to put an intrinsic value on something because it is the most efficient otherwise - hard to define. Redistribution - through tax?
Jonathan (21:00) Why people go into the profession - non pecuniary benefits. (22:00 - unsatisfying job joke)
Harry’s Question (24:00) To what extent do the pay differences we observe today reflect luck?/effort and other things we can control?
Thomas (25:00) poor boy made good argument. Steve Jobs example need luck + effort
Zariff (28:00) In Western Economies there are fewer obstacles to advancement therefore a lot of opportunities.
29:30 If we had a perfect meritocracy society (perfect equality of opportunity) then would the results of the market economy be fair? (Zariff - agrees, Harry - disagrees - effort/willingness also depends on circumstance and luck)
Lillian (32:40) Yugoslavian experience - distinctions still appear when people capture the choice - access to the market/executive/media.
Neer (34:00) Even if we had equal opportunity there would still be differential rewards and those differences still might exist because of luck (i.e. being born into a society that values and prizes (in renumeration and status) certain skills and jobs is a matter of luck)
(36:00) 2 Dimensions to luck in a meritocracy (1) Whether we deserve the talents and skills that we use to get ahead (2) Whether we deserve to live in a society that values the skills that we have in abundance.
Conclusion
Identified the competing philosophical principles of fairness in defining what is fair pay:
contribution?
effort?
markets?
Market “fairness” skewered by inequality of opportunity
Perfect Meritocracy would still be influenced by luck
Going Further:
Reading
Film
Snowpiercer (Joon-Ho Bong, 2013)
(2) The Financial Crisis
Language Leader Advanced Unit 11.2
Reading
Body idioms and metaphors
Commonly confused words
discreet (tactful) discrete ((separate/distinct)
Alternatives to if
Unless, as long as etc.
Listening for the features of natural speech
Going Further:
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