Mutual obligation: why reciprocity is an inadequate principle for unemployment programmes

Article

Hammer, Sara. 2003. "Mutual obligation: why reciprocity is an inadequate principle for unemployment programmes." Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics. 5 (1), pp. 14-24.
Article Title

Mutual obligation: why reciprocity is an inadequate principle for unemployment programmes

ERA Journal ID8331
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorHammer, Sara
Journal TitleAustralian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics
Journal Citation5 (1), pp. 14-24
Year2003
Place of PublicationCanberra, Australia
ISSN1328-4576
Web Address (URL)http://www.cappe.edu.au/ajpae.htm
Abstract

Individualised reciprocity is the moral bedrock of recent Australian unemployment policies including the Howard Government’s principle of Mutual Obligation. In this paper I explore the function of reciprocity within unemployment policy and the politics of redistribution. This exploration allows me to extend existing discussions about Mutual Obligation and include a broader analysis of the civic obligations are framed within it. I argue that temporal and conceptual inconsistencies within Mutual Obligation frame unemployed citizens as perpetual recipients with no past and no future. This artificially static representation justifies the enforced obligations found in current unemployed policy. Other citizens are represented as eternal contributors who are already fulfilling their obligations, a conceptualisation that offers little guidance on general civic responsibilities. Consequently, I argue that reciprocity so-conceived is at best only a partial indicator of whether citizens are fulfilling their obligations to the community. I conclude that individualised reciprocity is an unethical basis on which to administer income support policy in Australia.

Keywordsmutual obligation; reciprocity; unemployment policy
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020440712. Social policy
500104. Human rights and justice issues (excl. law)
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Byline AffiliationsGriffith University
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