The Future of Work and Income

工作和收入的未来是不确定的。根据一些专家的说法，自动化总有一天会让全职有偿就业成为过去。无论如何，我们的工作和收入体系正在经历戏剧性的变化，技术和政策改革使许多部门的工作安排变得更加灵活，往往导致就业更加不稳定。技术变革还在劳动力市场内造成技能差距，对收入分配产生影响。这些变化具有政治后果。更分散的劳动力，签订更多样化的工作合同，不能按照传统的路线进行政治组织。随着自动化程度更高的经济变得不那么依赖人类劳动力，撤回劳动力的威胁失去了威力。这可以从根本上改变劳资关系的性质和工作的政治经济学。这些变化需要明智的政策回应。这反过来需要清楚地了解，不仅是对变化本身，而且是对社会在应对变化时所依据的价值观的理解。一些人认为，我们必须改变评价工作的方式，以适应不断变化的经济现实。其他人则认为，在一个不确定的时期，我们必须更加坚定地坚持我们的价值观。有用的政策讨论只能在明确的哲学思想的背景下进行，这些背景是关于工作的价值和意义、权利的性质，以及--更广泛地说--社会对其成员的亏欠和合理期望。在社会环境发生如此巨大变化的情况下，退回到习惯性思维模式不是一种选择。旨在处理昨天问题的机构不再适用于今天的问题。即使我们决定保留我们现有的价值观和概念，这也必须是哲学反思的结果，而不是现状偏见。我们的目标是为这些基本的哲学问题提供一个辩论和澄清的论坛。由于它们贯穿于整个政策讨论过程，任何参与政策制定和评估过程的人都无法回避它们。澄清哲学立场有助于避免误解，有助于调和可调和的分歧，有助于承认不可调和的分歧。我们希望利用我们在学院内的地位，将一些最优秀的哲学头脑，与一系列学科合作，供参与决策和分析的人使用。随着政策朝着新的方向发展，以面临新的挑战，那些制定、批评和分析政策的人将不得不回答这样的问题：“什么应该算作就业？”“一个人什么时候有权获得收入，为什么？”，“纯粹的经济成本和利益如何与其他人进行比较？”等等。我们希望开辟一条沟通渠道，让那些在理论层面研究政策专家的人可以就这些问题向政策专家提问，同时学者们可以通过接触政策专家更具体的经验来发展自己的思维。苏格兰和全球的研究人员正在从各种学科方法和各种机构内部研究这些问题：在学院内部，为国家和地方政府，在私人资助的智库、慈善机构和企业中。除了强调哲学基础外，我们的目标是创建一个公正的网络，支持对这些主题的研究，独立于任何政治派别或政策议程。目前进行的关于工作和收入未来的许多研究都得到了追求特定政治目标的组织的支持，无论是倡导特定的利益集团还是推动特定的政策改革。尽管这项工作很重要，但我们认为，对研究人员来说，有一个论坛也很重要，在这个论坛上，他们可以从倡导的角度退一步，从更中立的立场讨论哲学问题。

The future of work and income is uncertain. According to some experts, automation will one day make full-time paid employment a thing of the past. In any case, our system of work and income is undergoing dramatic changes, with technology and policy reforms allowing working arrangements to become much more flexible in many sectors, often with the result of more precarious employment. Technological changes also create skills gaps within the labour market, with effects on income distribution. These changes have political consequences. A more diffuse workforce, on more diverse working contracts, cannot politically organise along traditional lines. The threat to withdraw labour loses its power as the more automated economy comes to depend less on human labour. This can fundamentally change the nature of industrial relations and the political economy of work.These changes call for informed policy responses. This in turn requires a clear understanding, not only of the changes themselves, but also of the basis of the values society draws upon in responding to them. According to some, we must change the way we value work to fit a changing economic reality. Others argue that we must hold all the more strongly to our values in a time of uncertainty. Useful policy discussion can only take place against a background of clear philosophical ideas, about the value and meaning of work, the nature of entitlement, and - more generally - what society owes to and can reasonably expect of its members. Retreating to habitual patterns of thought cannot be an option when the social environment is changing so dramatically. Institutions designed to deal with yesterday's problems lose their applicability to today's. Even if we decide to preserve our existing values and concepts, this must be the result of philosophical reflection rather than status quo bias.We aim to provide a forum for these fundamental philosophical questions to be debated and clarified. Since they penetrate the whole policy discussion, nobody involved in the process of making and evaluating policy can avoid them. Clarifying philosophical positions helps misunderstandings to be avoided, reconcilable differences to be reconciled, and irreconcilable differences to be recognised as such. We wish to use our position within the academy to put some of the best philosophical minds, working with a range of disciplines, at the disposal of those involved in policymaking and analysis. As policy develops in new directions to face new challenges, those making, critiquing, and analysing it will have to answer questions such as: 'what should count as employment?', 'when is somebody entitled to an income, and why?', 'how are purely economic costs and benefits to be weighed against others?', and so on. We wish to open a channel of communication through which policy experts can be questioned on these points by those who have studied them at the theoretical level, while academics can develop their own thinking by accessing the more concrete experience of policy experts.Researchers throughout Scotland and globally are working on these issues, from a variety of disciplinary approaches and within various types of institution: within the academy, for national and local governments, in privately-funded think-tanks, charities, and businesses. In addition to placing an emphasis on philosophical fundamentals, we aim to create an impartial network, to support research on these topics independently of any political affiliation or policy agenda. Much of the research currently conducted on the future of work and income is supported by organisations that pursue specific political objectives, whether to advocate for particular interest groups or to promote specific policy reforms. As important as this work is, we believe it is also important for researchers to be have a forum in which they can step back from advocacy and discuss philosophical questions from a more neutral position.