Labour Law and the Person: An Agenda for Social Justice (Bristol Studies in Law and Social Justice)

This book aims to revitalise the link between social justice and labour law through exploring the issue of personhood and the 'subject' of the law. Rodgers argues that incorporating a more 'relational' notion of self into labour law not only provides a fresh normative perspective through which to evaluate existing labour laws, but will also make us more able to respond to labour market 'shocks' and labour market change into the future, including the introduction of AI. It is only by embedding relationality into our law that can we really respect the humanity of workers and construct a legal framework through which social justice can be achieved at work. Front Cover Half-title Series page Labour Law and the Person: An Agenda for Social Justice Copyright information Contents Detailed Contents Series Editor Preface Table of Cases and Statutes Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 1. Labour law and social justice: the problematic 2. Social justice, critical theory, and labour law 3. The traditional labour law narrative 4. Failings of labour law’s foundational narrative 5. The importance of the personhood reflection 6. Reimagining personhood: the relational subject of law 7. Structure of the book 2 Labour Law and the Concept of Personhood 1. Introduction 2. Legal personhood and the law 3. Rationalism and civil law: tensions and effects for labour law 4. Religionism and labour law: tensions and effects 5. Sanctity and human rights 6. Embodiment and materiality 7. The social and the corporeal: Sinzheimer and the class being 8. Conclusions: moving forward with (feminist views of) relationality 3 Labour Law and Feminist Approaches to Personhood 1. Introduction 2. Feminist theory and labour law 2.1 Care work and affective labour 2.2 Failure to reach the mainstream 3. Vulnerability theory 4. Vulnerability theory and labour law: positive elements 4.1 Individual employment relations 4.2 Collective employment relations 5. Vulnerability theory: negative elements and limitations 6. Relationality: agency and social justice in the law 7. Moving forward with relationality 4 The Worker and the Person 1. Introduction 2. The worker and the liberal legal subject of law 3. The problem of status and subordination/dependence 4. Conceptual incoherence of employee/self-employment divide 5. Moving away from liberal legal subjectivity in the courts? 6. The idea of personality in work 7. Conclusions: moving towards relationality 5 Relationality and Collective Personhood 1. Introduction 2. Individualism, collectivism, and the problem of personhood 3. Collectivism beyond the law 4. The promotion of collective rights and implications for personhood 5. Towards a collective subject 6. Conclusion 6 The Challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic 1. Introduction 2. COVID-19 and the social justice challenge 3. Labour law cases in the pandemic 3.1 Discrimination law 3.2 Unfair dismissal 4. Health and safety and labour law in the pandemic 4.1 Greater relational inclusivity 4.2 Risk management and proactivity in the law 4.3 Collective structures 5. Conclusion 7 AI, Technology, and Work 1. Introduction 2. New technology in the workplace and the experience of work 3. The theoretical challenge 4. AI and the theorization of the person 4.1 AI and rationality 4.2 AI and autonomy 4.3 AI and the personhood analysis 5. Moving beyond the liberal legal subject 6. The ‘human-centric’ regulation of AI in the workplace 7. Conclusion 8 Conclusions 1. An inclusive critical agenda 2. Reconciling labour law’s justificatory schemes 3. Reacting to new labour market challenges References Index