Social Justice, Predistribution and the Democratization of Capital: Political Theory and the Future of Social Democracy

Project overview

This is a major research project in normative political philosophy, addressing the justice and justification of a number of specific real-world economic institutions. Its aim is to make fuller sense of emerging ideas of “predistribution”, questioning whether predistributive strategies can generate a positive direction for future progress towards more just and democratic societies. In particular, the primary area of examination will be designing and realizing a more democratic financial system, with a particular focus on the justifiability and plausibility of ideas relating to the democratization of capital investment.

The credit crunch of 2007, and the worldwide financial and fiscal crises that have come in its wake, have raised deep and difficult questions about the proper organization and regulation of our economic system. My project will examine the underlying philosophical aspects of these questions, seeing financial regulation as one significant dimension of the pursuit of social justice within democratic societies. This involves examining the desiderata of a system of financial regulation in terms of underlying political values of liberty, autonomy, equality, democracy and social justice.

In recent years, analytic political philosophy has become excessively cut-off from economics and political economy, to the detriment of each discipline. My project will pursue a significant reintegration of these disciplines, breaking new ground on the interdisciplinary discussion of fundamental questions regarding the organization of economic life in democratic societies. It will push forward an ambitious new agenda in “applied political philosophy”, which has the potential greatly to influence the development of the subject, and also to influence broader debates about the politics of social democracy and of the European social model.

This project will bring significant benefits to neighbouring disciplines, to policymakers, and to the general democratic debate, in Europe and elsewhere, on central questions regarding the future organization of our economies and our societies.

Dr O'Neill has been awarded an early career fellowship from the Independent Social Research Foundation to pursue this project.

Research Starts: 01/09/2014

Research Ends: 31/08/2015