The Moralization of Labor: Establishing the Social Responsibility of Employers for Disabled Workers

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Author (Corporation)
Publication date
2019
Typ of student thesis
Course of study
Type
04A - Book part
Editors
Schiller-Merkens, Simone
Balsiger, Philip
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
The Contested Moralities of Markets
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Series
Research in the Sociology of Organizations
Series number
63
Volume
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
87-110
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
Emerald
Place of publication / Event location
Bingley
Edition
Version
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Abstract
As a “fictitious commodity” (Polanyi), that cannot be separated from the human being who is its owner, labor has a special moral significance. However, this moral quality is not a given but must be asserted in struggles over the value of labor. With the example of disabled workers in Switzerland, this paper examines the moralization of labor as a means to revalue a category of workers who range far down the labor queue. Moralization mediates the tension between the normative societal goal of inclusion for disabled people and the freedom of employers to select the most “productive” workers. Drawing on the theoretical approach of the Economics of Convention the paper analyzes the valuation frames proposed by economic and welfare state actors in political debates over the establishment of the Swiss disability insurance and the role of employers regarding occupational integration. A core concept used in negotiations of the value of disabled labor in the public arena and within individual businesses is the “social responsibility” of employers. Historically, employers’ associations successfully promoted the liberal principle of voluntary responsibility to prevent state interference in the labor market. In contrast, disability insurance argues predominantly within the market and the industrial convention to “sell” its clientele in the context of employer campaigns and case-related interactions with employers. Only recently, both sides started to reframe the employment of disabled people as a win-win affair, which would reconcile economic self-interest and the common good.
Keywords
economy of conventions, welfare state history, employment of people with disabilities
Subject (DDC)
300 - Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie
360 - Soziale Probleme, Sozialdienste, Versicherungen
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ISBN
978-1-78769-120-9
ISSN
0733-558X
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
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Citation
NADAI, Eva und Alan CANONICA, 2019. The Moralization of Labor: Establishing the Social Responsibility of Employers for Disabled Workers. In: Simone SCHILLER-MERKENS und Philip BALSIGER (Hrsg.), The Contested Moralities of Markets. Bingley: Emerald. S. 87–110. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 63. ISBN 978-1-78769-120-9. Verfügbar unter: https://doi.org/10.26041/fhnw-1042