Just Wage

Alasdair MacIntyre has explained that when speaking of justice, we are always faced with the question of “whose justice” and which tradition. In facing the definition of a just wage, we encounter a similar problem as well as a further complication of application: Whose justice and whose application of justice to wages? This entry will explore two visions of justice and their applications to wages, which can be generally divided into a “market” or “neoclassical,” or “strategic” notion of a just wage and a communitarian, social, or Aristotelian/Thomistic notion. Both sides agree that a just wage is fair and equitable compensation for work; however, what constitutes fairness in the determination of a just wage is the basis of significant controversy. At the heart of this ...