TY  - JOUR
AU  - Andrew Morrison
PY  - 2024
CY  - Berlin, Germany
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
JF  - PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
IS  - 2
VL  - 5
SN  - 2578-5761
TI  - 2. Graduate Income Inequalities: A Qualified Desert Responsibility Analysis
DO  - 10.3726/PTIHE.022023.0357
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1456774
N2  - 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.
KW  - graduate incomes, inequality, desert-based justice, opportunity pluralism
ER  -