%0 Journal Article
%A Andrew Morrison
%D 2024
%C Berlin, Germany
%I Peter Lang Verlag
%J PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
%@ 2578-5761
%N 2
%V 5
%T 2. Graduate Income Inequalities: A Qualified Desert Responsibility Analysis
%R 10.3726/PTIHE.022023.0357
%U https://www.peterlang.com/document/1456774
%X 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.
%K graduate incomes, inequality, desert-based justice, opportunity pluralism