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2. Graduate Income Inequalities: A Qualified Desert Responsibility Analysis

by Andrew Morrison (Author)
25 Pages
Open Access
Journal: PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY IN HIGHER EDUCATION Volume 5 Issue 2 Publication Year 2023 pp. 357 - 381

Summary

This article proposes a ‘qualified desert responsibility’ framework to analyse social class-based differentials in graduate incomes in the UK. I posit that unequal outcomes can only be justified on desert grounds by virtue of actions or qualities for which individuals may reasonably be held responsible. I then review a range of sociological studies of graduate employment from which I conclude that disparities between middle-class and working-class graduates cannot be justified by reference to a desert principle because they are the product of an unequally structured labour market for which individuals cannot reasonably be held responsible. In the discussion, I develop this argument by drawing upon Fishkin’s theory of ‘opportunity pluralism’. I conclude with a brief account of sociological investigations of intra-class graduate employment experiences. Here, I suggest that unequal outcomes can be justified by reference to the desert principle where there is evidence that the responsibility condition has been met.

Biographical notes

Andrew Morrison (Author)

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Title: 2. Graduate Income Inequalities: A Qualified Desert Responsibility Analysis