How Exploitation Harms
Short description
Exploitation is a puzzling phenomenon in that people can be exploited even in transactions and relationships that they benefit from and consent to. What is the problem in such cases? This project seeks to show that the exploited party’s standing as an equal is damaged, even when they gain in other ways from being exploited. We also show how this new theory of exploitation sheds light on the ethical issues raised by the growing gig economy.
Exploitative practices, such as “sweatshop” employment, commercial surrogacy and organ sale, are pervasive in today’s global economy and the subject of a growing philosophical debate. This debate mainly concerns why it is morally wrong to exploit somebody when they voluntarily agree to and benefit from the transaction. However, while focusing on appraising the exploiter’s conduct, philosophers have not considered why, from the exploited party’s perspective, it is bad or harmful to be exploited. The purpose of the project is to fill this gap.
Our main thesis is that the exploited party suffers relational harm, that is, harm to their standing as an equal in relation to others. This is the case even when they gain in other ways from being exploited. To develop and defend this thesis we draw on recent work on relational equality in political philosophy. We also examine the growing gig economy, where workers such as food delivery riders and ride-hail drivers are often considered at risk of being exploitative.
Further, we show that understanding how exploitation harms allows progress to be made on three other philosophical problems about exploitation: First, what makes exploitation morally wrong? Second, is it worse to exploit or to neglect people in need when exploitation is voluntary and benefits them? Third, how is exploitation linked to structural injustice? In this way, the project makes a broad and ground-breaking contribution to exploitation theory and the analysis of real-world exploitative practices.
Further reading: Exploitation in the Gig Economy