Capability Justice and a Politics of Meaningfulness

In structuring meaningful work using the bipartite value of meaning- fulness, I have drawn attention to how experiencing meaningfulness depends upon our being able to exercise the capabilities and status for meaningfulness, which are formed through our participation in action contexts with agonistic dimensions- By re-conceiving work in this way, we can begin to see the outlines of a programme of social and political action aimed at proliferating meaningfulness in the organisation of work. Of course, meaningful work has always existed, but in most societies it has been an ideal which aims at elite meaning or the maximal degree of meaningfulness for a few. However, a system which institutionalises elite meaning transgresses any scheme of justice which is concerned to meet fundamental human needs, including goods such as meaningful work. Hence, I argue that we should aim at egalitarian meaning or a satisficing level of meaningfulness for all. In this case, the goal is not to guarantee that everyone will find their lives to be actually meaningful, but to secure social arrangements that will provide the relevant capabilities for the functioning of meaningfulness, consistent with the demands of justice (Muirhead, 2004),