Abstract
This paper proposes four concepts of exploitation that encapsulate common uses of the word in social interactions: unfair advantage, unequal exchange, using persons as means, and free-riding. It briefly discusses how these concepts appear in the literature (the first two are prominent in Roemer’s classical work), and then examines how these forms of exploitation are related and how they can occur.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bossert
W
Fleurbaey
M
(2002 ) Equitable insurance premium schemes . Social Choice and Welfare 19 : 113 –126 .
2.
Dworkin
R
(1981 ) What is equality? Part 2: equality of resources . Philosophy and Public Affairs 10 : 283 –345 .
3.
Fleurbaey
M
1996 , Théories économiques de la justice . Paris : Economica .
4.
Goodin
R
(1987 ) Exploitating a situation and exploiting a person . In:
Reeve
A
(ed) Modern Theories of Exploitation . London : Sage , pp. 166 –200 .
5.
Moulin
H
(1990 ) Joint ownership of a convex technology: comparison of three solutions . Review of Economic Studies 57 : 439 –452 .
6.
Rawls
J
(1982 ) Social unity and primary goods . In:
Sen
AK
Williams
B
(eds) Utilitarianism and Beyond . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , pp. 159 –186 .
7.
Roemer
JE
(1982 ) A General Theory of Exploitation and Class . Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press .
8.
Roemer
JE
(1985 ) Should Marxists be interested in exploitation? Philosophy and Public Affairs 14 : 30 –65 .
9.
Roemer
JE
(1989a ) Second thoughts on property relations and exploitation . Canadian Journal of Philosophy 15 (Suppl ): 257 –266 .
10.
Roemer
JE
(1989b ) What is exploitation? Reply to Jeffrey Reiman . Philosophy and Public Affairs 18 : 90 –97 .
11.
Roemer
JE
(1998 ) Equality of Opportunity . Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press .
12.
Roemer
JE
Silvestre
J
(1993 ) The proportional solution for economies with both private and public ownership . Journal of Economic Theory 59 : 426 –444 .
13.
Sample
RJ
(2003 ) Exploitation: What It Is and Why It’s Wrong . Lanham, MD : Rowman and Littlefield .
14.
Skillman
GL
(1995 ) Ne hic saltaveris: the Marxian theory of exploitation after Roemer . Economics and Philosophy 11 : 309 –331 .
15.
Veneziani
R
(2007 ) Exploitation and time . Journal of Economic Theory 132 : 189 –207 .
16.
Wertheimer
A
(1996 ) Exploitation . Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press .
17.
Wolff
J
(1999 ) Marx and exploitation . Journal of Ethics 3 : 105 –120 .
18.
Wood
AW
(1995 ) Exploitation . Social Philosophy and Policy 12 : 135 –158 . Reprinted in
Nielsen
K
Ware
R
(eds) (1997 ) Exploitation . Atlantic Highlands, NJ : Humanities Press International .
19.
Yoshihara
N
(2010 ) Class and exploitation in general convex cone economies . Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 75 : 281 –296 .
20.
Yoshihara
N
Veneziani
R
(2009 ) Exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour: an axiomatic approach . Discussion Paper A524 , Hitotsubashi University .