Economic dignity as a guiding principle for the economy

Jeremiah Brown (@jeremiahtbrown) is a social policy Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact. In today’s post he talks about using economic dignity as a guiding principle for the economy. This work was completed during his time as the inaugural Brotherhood of St Laurence ANZ Tony Nicholson Research Fellow. You can read a longer discussion paper about conceptualising economic dignity here, and see how it can be applied to develop a financial wellbeing framework here. 

Economic dignity is a valuable concept for understanding the impact of the economy on the lives of ordinary Australians. It can help explain harms that people can experience, and can help guide policies to support the wellbeing of people as well. It is particularly useful for understanding complex changes like the impact of the pandemic on the lives of ordinary Australians.

What is Economic Dignity?

Economic dignity is a concept with four dimensions that draw from different aspects of dignity. Each dimension has relevance to the current economic context. The first dimension is that dignity is intrinsic to all people; the second dimension draws from the idea of dignity as status; the third dimension draws from the idea of dignity as function; and the fourth dimension draws from the idea of dignity as manner or bearing.

Dignity as Intrinsic

Dignity as an intrinsic feature of people is the type of dignity most commonly used in moral and political discussion. It’s used in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and commonly employed in legal contexts. This type of dignity is drawn from the idea that everyone should be treated as being capable of making decisions and acting freely, and supported in making choices that they have reason to value.

Acknowledging dignity as intrinsic to people means recognising the ways that economic constraints can prevent people from acting freely. When people are prevented from making important economic choices, it can be harmful to their economic dignity because they are deprived of the ability to exercise their agency.

Dignity as Status

Often there is dignity that is awarded to people based upon the status of the position that they occupy in our society. This is visible in the different treatment of people, groups, or sectors of the economy.

Some sectors have been included in economic support (through the JobKeeper payment), while others have been excluded. This highlights the different status or respect that these sectors are treated with. We have also seen some groups receive increased support, like through the HomeBuilder grant, while other groups have been excluded (like many Temporary Visa holders).

One area within sectors that has been noticeable during the pandemic has been the differences in the treatment of people based upon the type of employment arrangement that they have (i.e. full-time, part-time, or casual). Treating some types of employees within the economy as worthy of economic support, but not others, presents a hierarchical evaluation of the worth of those employees. For example, excluding short-term casuals from the JobKeeper payment has positioned them as less worthy of respect than other types of employees.

Dignity as Function

Dignity as function draws from the idea that people should be able to serve a function that they feel is valuable to society, and that they have reason to value. This can be in the form of either paid or unpaid work. For example, while parents are not paid for the care work they provide, parenting is seen as a valuable function to our society, and is something that parents also have reason to enjoy and value.

During the pandemic, there has been a noticeable increase in the status and public recognition awarded to previously less visible front-line service roles. For example, health workers have been the subject of public recognition and praise for their work in protecting the population during the pandemic.

While some people have seen the function they provide become more visible, others have had theirs reduced or lost it entirely. The most recent ABS employment data shows that because of the pandemic 2.3 million Australians have either been stood down, had their hours reduced, or are unemployed. For some, this will be harmful to their sense of providing a valuable function within society.

Dignity as Bearing

Dignity as bearing is tied to the idea of acting well in the face of contradictory inclination. Economic dignity draws on this idea to highlight the way that being forced to make impossible choices can be deeply harmful to people. This can be a common experience for people experiencing poverty.

When people do not have sufficient resources, they can be forced to decide which essential needs they should go without. Trading off between essential needs can be harmful to a person’s sense of self, because it forces them to actively choose their own deprivation.

The Usefulness of Economic Dignity

Each of the dimensions of economic dignity helps us to understand the different economic impacts of the pandemic.

Intrinsic dignity can be used to understand how actively programs support individual agency and autonomy. The expansion of the cashless debit card under COVID-19 is one example where we can use intrinsic dignity to understand the harm that people experience when their choices are restricted unnecessarily.

Dignity as status highlights the consequences of treating different sectors and types of employees differently. We can use economic dignity to help understand the significance of excluding certain sectors of the economy, like universities, from economic support.

Dignity as function helps to understand how losing one’s job can be harmful to a person. With our society often linking worth to a person’s level of productivity, being unemployed can leave people feeling like a failure. The loss extends beyond just the loss of income, and it is important to recognise that.

Dignity as bearing reveals the significant impact that difficult choices can have on our sense of self. With the pandemic driving rising household grocery costs and increasing levels of rental and mortgage stress, many people are going to be forced to make impossible decisions about what they should go without. It’s important to understand how the harm they experience can go beyond just missing out on those essential needs, and to recognise that it can impact their sense of self.

The different dimensions are particularly helpful for interpreting government policy, where it can help us evaluate the significance of different levels of support and assistance. Excluding people can harm more than just their financial position, it can also compromise their economic dignity. 

Content moderator: Jack Noone