Pope Francis on Overcoming Exclusion: A Theological Vision with Economic and Social Implications

The ethical imperative to overcome exclusion is a key component of the social teachings and advocacy efforts of Pope Francis. At the very core of the pastoral and social vision he proposes is a drive to resist the global trend toward growing inequality and to encourage greater solidarity, which includes extending economic opportunities much more broadly. Even more vehemently than his papal predecessors, Francis insists on prioritizing the concrete well‐being of people facing hardship and oppression, so that nobody is relegated to the category of “the throwaway.” While the theme of mercy (a “soft” virtue, inasmuch as it involves voluntary action to overcome indifference and suffering) is prominent in many of his ethical appeals, Francis notably displays a distinctive structural analysis (a “hard” diagnostic tool) when addressing injustices in the global economy. The plights of victims of human trafficking, of global climate change, of restricted work opportunities due to globalization, and other causes of human suffering are best analyzed with ample attention to structures that require transformation. While economists and sociologists may be less interested in the underlying moral anthropology and spirituality that grounds the social teachings of Francis, it is undeniable that a coherent social vision undergirds the insistence of the Jesuit pope on greater social inclusion—a vision that applies to the full range of economic, environmental, and social issues. These concerns are on especially full display in two major teaching documents of Francis: his 2013 exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel” and his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. In each, the pope employs an astute structural lens that reveals injustices and allows him to propose strategies to overcome inequality and exclusion.     

The Throwaway Culture in the Economy of Exclusion: Pope Francis and Economists on Waste

An essential part of Pope Francis’s critique of the “economy of exclusion” is the concept of the “throwaway culture,” which is an attitude and a reality that goes beyond mere exclusion. Francis is building on critiques of consumerism (what John Paul II called “economism”) that noted both the environmental impacts of unnecessary waste and the social and human impact of reducing humans to mere consumers—the idea that happiness is shopping. Francis adds to this a concern for the people on the margins of society who are treated as disposable and for the consequences of climate change, both of which are connected to the throwaway attitude. This article looks at Francis’s views within the tradition of Catholic social thought and at how economists, especially Adam Smith, who provided the foundation for modern economics, looked at waste and consumerism.     

Power,Subsidiarity, and the Economy of Exclusion

According to Pope Francis, an “economy of exclusion” is an economy with barriers that prevent individuals and groups from participating in the economy and society to their full potential. Power is a key determinant for both exclusion and inclusion. All economies are based on power relations and an “economy of exclusion” is an abuse of power. This contribution looks at what economic power is and how it can build barriers of exclusion or pathways to inclusion. We use income inequality as a measure of exclusion, giving a general history of power and inequality to demonstrate the role of power. Lastly, we look at the concept of subsidiarity in Catholic social thought as a principle to guide the use of power in the economy.     

Workplace bullying as an antecedent to job insecurity and intention to leave: a 6‐month prospective study

Workplace bullying is a severe problem in contemporary working life, affecting up to 15 per cent of employees. Among the detrimental outcomes of bullying, it is even postulated as a major risk factor for exclusion from work. In support of this claim, the current study demonstrates that exposure to bullying behaviour predicts an increase in both levels of job insecurity and intention to leave over a 6‐month time lag, among a random sample of North Sea workers (n = 734). The findings suggest that bullied employees are insecure about the permanence and content of their job, and they may be at risk of turnover and exclusion from working life. It is recommended that these outcomes are taken into consideration when incidences of workplace bullying are addressed.     

The Herning-Ikast textile industry: an industrial district in West Jutland

Notions of social inclusion and the need to combat social exclusion have become popular areas of attention in academic and policy circles. The importance of small firms and entrepreneurship as a means to raising inclusion has been emphasized in these new agendas. A priori, there are a number of reasons why small businesses may be regarded as providing opportunities for social inclusion. However, in this paper we argue that the recent expectations of the role of small firms and entrepreneurship in combating social exclusion are over optimistic. Some of the assumptions on which these expectations are based are questioned. Instead, we suggest that attention should start by a clearer understanding of the concept of social exclusion. Individual economic strategies, in the form of small business activity, can make some contribution but because of the complex multidimensional nature of social exclusion, over-inflated claims should be avoided. When these claims are not achieved there may be a danger of a policy backlash against the promotion of business ownership and disaffection amongst those who fail to realize their goals. This paper draws on secondary evidence and concludes with implications for policy and suggestions for further research.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Review in this Article Alvesson , Mats . Organization Theory and Technocratic Consciousness. Dawson , Sandra . Analysing Organizations. Rowbottom , Ralph and Billis , David . Organizational Design. Moores , Brian . (Ed.) Are They Being Served? Boddy , David and Buchanan , David A. Managing New Technology. Francis , Arthur . New Technology At Work. Warner , Malcolm . (Ed.), Management Reforms In China.     

Industrial relations and the management of whistleblowing after the Francis report: what can be learned from the evidence?

This article focuses on the results obtained from the quantitative surveys conducted for the independent review into creating an open and honest report culture in the NHS. It examines the management of whistleblowing and discusses the research findings in the light of the recommendations made by Sir Robert Francis QC in his ‘Freedom to Speak Up’ report published in February 2015. The authors believe that the principles and actions set out in this report and the detailed Annexe describing various aspects of good practice are generally applicable in both the public and private sectors. In so far as it provides evidence that those who follow their employer's procedure when raising a concern have better outcomes than others, the authors conclude that the quantitative research for Francis is consistent with other findings that power resources and institutional arrangements can be critical to the whistleblowing process.     

Human Vicegerency and the Golden Rule: The Islamic Case Against Exclusion

The Islamic conception of social exclusion complements the Catholic perspective found in other contributions to this issue. The Islamic prohibitions of social exclusion are derived from theological principles that combine to provide a metaphysical basis for the golden rule that one should treat others as one wishes to be treated. This article examines the roots of a practical morality that enjoins us to treat other people as equals and prohibits exploitation of them in economic exchange. This philosophy is based on four principles found in the Qur'an and the hadith (teachings of the Prophet): vicegerency, commensurability, responsibility, and prophecy. These four principles combine to show how humans, as God's agents on earth, have the means to carry out the divine will. The practice of justice in Islamic thought does not rely on social conventions that are variable and contingent but on absolute principles revealed to us by the Prophet. That gives Islam an advantage over secular thought in establishing a strong foundation for social and ethical principles that give egalitarianism a transcendent basis. Thus, social inclusivity in Islamic thought is an integral part of a life governed by piety and prophecy.     

Privacy and Personnel Selection: Reciprocal Rights and Responsibilities

Previous models of invasion of privacy in selection have stressed applicant rights to the exclusion of applicant responsibilities, and have slighted organizational incumbents' needs to acquire accurate knowledge about prospective co-workers. To correct this imbalance, a reciprocal model, enumerating and justifying possible rights and responsibilities of applicants, organizational management, and organizational incumbents, is postulated. This normative model is contrasted with the current mistrust that characterizes many selection interactions. Propositions suggesting ways of gaining the information that organizations require, while still respecting the privacy needs of applicants, are advanced. Tentative suggestions for how human resource professionals could initiate these positive changes are suggested as well.     

Karol Wojtyła’s Katolicka Etyka Społeczna as Precursor and Hermeneutic Key to Pope John Paul II’s Economic Teaching

The highly anticipated publication of Karol Wojtyła’s Katolicka etyka społeczna (KES) in 2018 provides a novel and important basis for understanding the economic thinking of Pope John Paul II. The text is comprised of Wojtyła’s extensive lecture notes from the 1950s on the topic of Catholic social teaching and spans almost 500 pages. KES illustrates the future pope’s deep concern for economic justice as a young priest and his ambivalence towards capitalism, which persisted throughout his papacy. Given the size of KES, this article selectively focuses on Wojtyła’s treatment of topics of continuing relevance: the right of the Church to pronounce on economic matters; private property and the “social mortgage” on it; inequality, the just distribution of resources, and the “option for the poor”; the moral assessment of capitalism and Marxism; the dignity of labor and workers’ rights; and the role of conflict in promoting the common good. I contend that KES is consonant with the later papal teaching of John Paul II on economic justice and that it provides a hermeneutic key to understanding it. Furthermore, I argue that the “radicalism” of Karol Wojtyła on matters of economic justice in KES coheres with papal social teaching from Pope Paul VI through that of Pope Francis.     

The Institution of Hukou‐based Social Exclusion: A Unique Institution Reshaping the Characteristics of Contemporary Urban China

This conceptual article contributes to institutional analysis and the neo‐institutional theory literature by identifying and analysing the linked rules, values, norms and patterned practices that surround and structure the way rural migrant workers are treated in urban areas of China in terms of Scott's integrated model of institutions. It argues that these hukou‐based rules, values, norms and patterned practices that discriminate against rural migrants can be considered to be a unique institution — the institution of hukou‐based social exclusion (IHSE). IHSE has dominated Chinese urban society for 3 decades and significantly shaped the lives of millions of rural migrant workers, the character of contemporary China and the nature of managerial practices among Chinese firms. This is the first article to examine the social exclusion of rural workers from the perspective of neo‐institutionalism, providing the first systematic analysis of the regulative, normative and cognitive dimensions that together socially exclude migrants in urban areas of China. It presents a holistic picture of the newly identified institution that offers new insights into China's urban society and management, and a new starting point for research.     

Exclusion in all‐pay auctions: An experimental investigation

Contest designers and managers who wish to maximize the overall revenue of a contest are frequently concerned with a trade‐off between contest homogeneity and inclusion of contestants with high valuations. In our experimental study, we find that it is not profitable to exclude the strongest bidder in order to promote greater homogeneity among the remaining bidders, even though the theoretical exclusion principle predicts otherwise. This is because the strongest bidders are willing to give up a substantial portion of their expected rent in order to minimize the chance of losing the contest.     

The historical construction of correlation as a conceptual and operative instrument for empirical research

This article is meant to reconstruct—from the standpoint of sociology and history of science—the development of the concept and the operative instruments of statistical correlation. The starting point is the discussion of some key mathematical aspects of the Error Theory, including a detailed analysis of the various positions regarding its contributions, if any, to the theory of correlation. Then proceeds to examine how the concept (and its relative instruments) emerged in its modern sense, by the late Nineteenth century, thanks to the work of Francis Galton. Finally, it considers the numerous contributions that rendered possible the formalisation and generalisation of both Galton’s concept and methodological tools, in particular those of Karl Pearson, but also those of Walter Weldon, Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, George Udny Yule and Charles Spearman.

“Co-relation or correlation of structure” is a phrase much used in biology, and not least in that branch of it which refers to heredity, and the idea is even more frequently present than the phrase; but I am not aware of any previous attempt to define it clearly, to trace its mode of action in detail, or to show how to measure its degree. Francis Galton (1888, 135)

     

Instrumental variables regressions with uncertain exclusion restrictions: a Bayesian approach

The identification of structural parameters in the linear instrumental variables (IV) model is typically achieved by imposing the prior identifying assumption that the error term in the structural equation of interest is orthogonal to the instruments. Since this exclusion restriction is fundamentally untestable, there are often legitimate doubts about the extent to which the exclusion restriction holds. In this paper I illustrate the effects of such prior uncertainty about the validity of the exclusion restriction on inferences based on linear IV models. Using a Bayesian approach, I provide a mapping from prior uncertainty about the exclusion restriction into increased uncertainty about parameters of interest. Moderate prior uncertainty about exclusion restrictions can lead to a substantial loss of precision in estimates of structural parameters. This loss of precision is relatively more important in situations where IV estimates appear to be more precise, for example in larger samples or with stronger instruments. I illustrate these points using several prominent recent empirical papers that use linear IV models. An accompanying electronic table allows users to readily explore the robustness of inferences to uncertainty about the exclusion restriction in their particular applications. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Znakomstva I Svyazi’ (Acquaintances and connections) – Blat,the Soviet Union,and mundane entrepreneurship

The discussion regarding entrepreneurship and society has often presupposed that this society by necessity will be one that embraces the market economy as a guiding principle. This paper questions this assumption by discussing a command economy, namely the Soviet Union, as a fundamentally entrepreneurial society. By introducing the case of the blat, ‘Russia’s economy of favours’, the paper illustrates how mundane individual economies can be a part of entrepreneurship, and how flexible opportunity networks can support the rigidity of a command economy. Continuing from this, the exclusion of such irregular economies is discussed from an ideological rather than an analytic standpoint. The paper further presents some inferences that can be drawn from the case of the blat and which problematizes common assumptions in entrepreneurship studies.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: Christopher Mele, Selling the Lower East Side: culture, real estate, and resistance in New York City Frank Moulaert, Globalization and integrated area development in European cities Linda McDowell, Gender, identity and place: understanding feminist geographies Mike Davis, Magical urbanism: Latinos reinvent the US city Graeme Evans, Cultural planning: an urban renaissance? Ian Gough and Gunnar Olofsson (eds.), Capitalism and social cohesion: essays on exclusion and integration Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, American project: the rise and fall of a modern ghetto     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Eade, John (ed.) Living the global city: globalization as local process Green, Charles (ed.) Globalization and survival in the black diaspora: the new urban challenge Kohler-Koch, B. et alInteraktive Politik in Europa: Regionen im Netzwerk der Integration [Interactive politics in Europe: the regions in the network of European integration] Sennett, Richard The corrosion of character: the personal consequences of work in the new capitalism Flyvbjerg, Bent Rationality and power. Democracy in practice Cybriwsky, Roman Tokyo: the Shogun’s city at the twenty-first century Hebbert, Michael London Pineo, Ronn and James A. Baer (eds.) Cities of hope: people, protests, and progress in urbanizing Latin America, 1870–1930 Fyfe, Nicholas R. (ed.) Images of the street. Planning, identity and control in public space Duffy, Francis, with contributions from Kenneth Powell The new office     

Roots radical – place,power and practice in punk entrepreneurship

The significance continues to grow of scholarship that embraces critical and contextualized entrepreneurship, seeking rich explorations of diverse entrepreneurship contexts. Following these influences, this study explores the potentialized context of punk entrepreneurship. The Punk Rock band Rancid has a 20-year history of successfully creating independent musical and related creative enterprises from the margins of the music industry. The study draws on artefacts, interviews and videos created by and around Rancid to identify and analyse this example of marginal, alternative entrepreneurship. A three-part analytic frame was applied to analysing these artefacts. Place is critical to Rancid's enterprise, grounding the band socially, culturally, geographically and politically. Practice also plays an important role with Rancid's activities encompassing labour, making music, movement and human interactions. The third, and most prevalent, dimension of alterity is that of power which includes data related to dominance, subordination, exclusion, control and liberation. Rancid's entrepreneurial story is depicted as cycles, not just a linear journey, but following more complicated paths – from periphery to centre, and back again; returning to roots, whilst trying to move forwards too; grounded in tradition but also radically focused on dramatic change. Paradox, hybridized practices, and the significance of marginal place as a rich resource also emerged from the study.     

Enhancing leader inclusion while preventing social exclusion in the work group

Research on inclusion and exclusion at work has grown in recent years, but for the most part has been treated as separate domains. In this paper, we integrate these literatures to build greater understanding of leader inclusion and leader exclusion. Leaders play a critical role in determining group member experiences of inclusion and exclusion through direct treatment of employees, and by serving as a role model (Bandura, 1977). According to social identity theory, when the leader is rewarded by the organization, this signifies that the leader is a prototypical organizational member who exemplifies the set of norms and behaviors most consistent with the organizational ideal (Hogg & van Knippenberg, 2003). We argue that through both social learning and social identity mechanisms, the leader can encourage inclusionary and exclusionary behavior in their work group. We first examine leader inclusion and present the types of behaviors that will aid in creating inclusive team member experiences. By exhibiting these behaviors, a leader can be a role model, an advocate and an ally for building work group inclusion. Next, we present the negative roles of ostracizer and bystander adopted by leaders that indicate support for behaving in an exclusionary manner, which can lead to exclusion among coworkers. We then describe leader remedies for social exclusion. Finally, we discuss the implications of our model and directions for future research.     

Restoring Credible Economic Governance to the Eurozone

This paper discusses new institutional rules for a stable and lasting European Monetary Union (EMU). We propose a return to a strict and sustainable economic governance framework, which is mainly driven by market forces within a smart rule‐based environment. Our recommendations are: (a) ex ante conditionalities with a tough monitoring process to avoid moral hazard in the future; (b) further enhancement of the Stability and Growth Pact; and (c) ultimo ratio punishment to be able to respond to the unique constellation of fiscal–monetary interaction and new rescue facilities. Countries violating fiscal rules for more than four years in a row will thus lose their fiscal sovereignty or will have to resign from the Eurozone. After fulfilling the ex ante conditionalities as well as all required criteria, the country either will recover its fiscal sovereignty, or, in case of exclusion, will be given the option to rejoin EMU under certain conditions.