MODULE 5: Justice Across Ages (3) and (4)

Juliana Bidadanure, Justice Across Ages

Overview ... terminology at tab above

I. The puzzle of age discrimination: is age like gender and race?  (ch. 1, p. 23-30) Oct 27

• gender and race inequalities tend to be diachronic (therefore esp. bad)
• birth cohort inequalities tend to be diachronic
• age group inequalities tend to be synchronic (less bad, but may still be unjust)

II. Principles of justice, fairness, equality when it comes to age groups and birth cohorts

1. approximate equality between birth cohorts/generations (ch. 1, p. 42-47) Oct 31 
• Gen Z shouldn't do worse than the previous generation
2. Prudential Lifespan Account (PLA) (ch. 2, p. 50-55)  Oct 27, Nov 3
• account of how resources should be distributed across age groups
• principle of efficiency
3. Relational justice (ch. 3, p. 95-110) Nov 3
• no dominating, disrespecting, demeaning, stigmatizing, marginalizing, humiliating

III. Applications

1. workplace  (ch. 5, p. 172-178) Nov 3, Nov 5
2. politics (ch. 7, p.219-221) Nov 7

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Principle of justice 2. Prudential Lifespan Account--PLA (ch. 2, p. 50-55)

• PLA is an account of the distribution of resources over different age groups
• social distribution of resources over age groups should match how I would prudently (out of self-interest) distribute resources over my own lifespan
• lifespan efficiency principle--resources should be allocated so they do the most good diachronically

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Principle of justice 3. relational justice (ch. 3, p. 95-110)

Distributive vs. relational justice

1. Distributive justice--involves how resources are distributed across individuals or groups (e.g. PLA)
2. Relational justice--involves relationships between individuals

Thought experiments showing they're different

Unequal marriage--each year husband and wife change who has absolute power in the relationship

Unequal castes--everyone in a society is an A or a B; the As dominate the Bs; after a year they switch roles; etc. 

• No problem of distributive justice
• But there's a problem of relational justice --there is non-stop domination! 
• Another moral of the story: changing places doesn't solve all problems. Change places in age cases doesn't make just anything ok.

Relational injustices: dominating, oppressing, stigmatizing, marginalizing, disrespecting, ignoring, demeaning

Relational injustices pertaining to age

1. infantilizing old people -- elderspeak
2. infantilizing young adults -- seniorsplaining

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Ch. 5: Injustices pertaining to age in the workplace

1. Question: when is differentiating by age benign and when is it wrongful discrimination? (p. 172)
2. Wrongful in a moral sense, not a legal sense (age discrimination laws vary and are very weak)
3. Bidadanure: differentiating by age is wrongful discrimination when it's demeaning

Age differentiation in workplace that's clearly demeaning--

1. Making the under 25's clean the bathrooms
2. Asking younger people to help older people with tech issues
3. what else?

Next time, apply these ideas to more realistic practices:

1. prioritizing youth --  the EU job guarantee -- country implementation plans
2. mandatory retirement (next time)

RR24: which principles does she apply to discuss the EU job guarantee?

1. Approximate generational equality
2. Prudential lifespan account + lifespan efficiency principle
3. Relational justice --no dominating, demeaning, stigmatizing, etc.