IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/intlab/v160y2021i2p311-329.html

Freedom at, through and from work: Rethinking labour rights

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolas BUENO

Abstract

To what extent do labour rights promote freedom in relation to work? Methodologically, the article defines three freedoms: freedom “at”, “through” and “from” work. Despite freedom‐oriented approaches to labour law, it shows that fundamental labour rights have traditionally aimed and continue to aim at protecting workers in the labour market, not at expanding freedoms and in particular freedom “from” work. In this respect, it outlines limits in current proposals, such as the basic income, to liberate from work. It discusses instead new rights in the human economy framework, concluding that, in order to expand freedoms in relation to work, not fewer but more fundamental labour rights are required.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas BUENO, 2021. "Freedom at, through and from work: Rethinking labour rights," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(2), pages 311-329, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:160:y:2021:i:2:p:311-329
    DOI: 10.1111/ilr.12192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12192
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ilr.12192?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manuel C. BRANCO, 2019. "Economics for the right to work," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(1), pages 63-81, March.
    2. Bueno, Nicolas, 2017. "From the right to work to freedom from work: introduction to the human economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86421, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Bueno, Nicolas, 2017. "From the Right to Work to Freedom from Work: Introduction to the Human Economy," MPRA Paper 101273, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Christopher Michaelson, 2021. "A Normative Meaning of Meaningful Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 413-428, May.
    5. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    6. William M. Boal & Michael R. Ransom, 1997. "Monopsony in the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 86-112, March.
    7. Taylor, Robert S., 2017. "Exit Left: Markets and Mobility in Republican Thought," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198798736.
    8. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2007. "The impossibility of a perfectly competitive labour market," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(5), pages 775-787, September.
    9. Maximilian Sommer, 2016. "A Feasible Basic Income Scheme for Germany," Contributions to Economics, Springer, edition 1, number 978-3-319-24064-0, March.
    10. Pettit Philip, 2008. "A Republican Right to Basic Income?," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-8, January.
    11. Timothy Weidel, 2018. "Moving Towards a Capability for Meaningful Labor," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 70-88, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephens, Thomas C., 2023. "The quality of work (QoW): towards a capability theory," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119832, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephens, Thomas C., 2023. "The quality of work (QoW): towards a capability theory," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119832, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Santiago Mejia, 2023. "The Normative and Cultural Dimension of Work: Technological Unemployment as a Cultural Threat to a Meaningful Life," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 847-864, July.
    3. Ashraf Elsafty & Ahmed Elzeftawy, 2023. "Towards Effective Mitigation of the Digital Transformation and COVID-19 Risk on Unemployment in Mobile Operators in Egypt," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 17(2), pages 123-123, February.
    4. Cette, Gilbert & Devillard, Aurélien & Spiezia, Vincenzo, 2021. "The contribution of robots to productivity growth in 30 OECD countries over 1975–2019," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Tao Chen & Shuwen Pi & Qing Sophie Wang, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence and Corporate Investment Efficiency: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Working Papers in Economics 25/05, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    6. Jeremy T. Fox, 2010. "Estimating the Employer Switching Costs and Wage Responses of Forward-Looking Engineers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(2), pages 357-412, April.
    7. Ayhan, Fatih & Elal, Onuray, 2023. "The IMPACTS of technological change on employment: Evidence from OECD countries with panel data analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    8. Shigeru Fujita & Madison Perry, 2024. "Nonworking Parents or Hungry Children," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 9(4), pages 2-9, December.
    9. Ville-Veikko Pulkka, 2017. "A free lunch with robots – can a basic income stabilise the digital economy?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(3), pages 295-311, August.
    10. Adrian Otoiu & Ramona Bere & Catalin Silvestru, 2017. "An Assessment of the First Round Impact of Innovation Industries on Europe’s Regional Economies," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(44), pages 289-289, February.
    11. Qihang Li & Yituan Liu & Wenjie Li & Linman Zheng, 2025. "Will Industrial Robots Terminate Enterprise Innovation?—An Empirical Evidence from China’s Enterprise Robot Penetration," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(2), pages 10074-10103, June.
    12. Lütkenhorst, Wilfried, 2018. "Creating wealth without labour? Emerging contours of a new techno-economic landscape," IDOS Discussion Papers 11/2018, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    13. Gao, Jie & Li, Zhizhuo & Nguyen, Thithuha & Zhang, Wentao, 2025. "Digital transformation and enterprise employment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Böhm, Robert & Letmathe, Peter & Schinner, Matthias, 2023. "The monetary value of competencies: A novel method and case study in smart manufacturing," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    15. Guido Friebel & Sergei Guriev, 2000. "Should I Stay or Can I Go? Worker Attachment in Russia," Working Papers w0008, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    16. Caitlin Allen Whitehead & Haroon Bhorat & Robert Hill & Tim Köhler & François Steenkamp, 2021. "The Potential Employment Implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies: The Case of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector," Working Papers 202106, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    17. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Li, Jiangnan & Yan, Jingyang, 2025. "Can artificial intelligence contribute to the new energy system? Based on the perspective of labor supply," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Capucine Riom & Anna Valero, 2020. "The business response to Covid-19: the CEP-CBI survey on technology adoption," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-009, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    19. Molla, M. M., 2024. "Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Fear of Job Displacement in Banks in Bangladesh," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 42(1), pages 1-18.
    20. Islam, Nizamul & Colombino, Ugo, 2018. "The case for NIT+FT in Europe. An empirical optimal taxation exercise," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 38-69.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:160:y:2021:i:2:p:311-329. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ilounch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.