On March 22, 2015, Norman Kurland, Center for Economic and Social Justice (www.cesj.org) writes:
Attached is an excellent set of quotes by Pope Francis and their sources developed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. You may want to use some of these to make the case for an encyclical to be issued by the Pope of the three basic and interdependent principles of Economic Justice that would help people understand why the present system is unjust and how to mobilize the “People Power” needed to create a more just market economy based on lifting artificial barriers to equal ownership opportunities for all.
Let us know your thoughts on how to bring our Just Third Way vision to the Pope and other true leaders around the world. While we know that the Pope cannot advocate specific solutions, he can and does teach principles of social justice through Papal encyclicals, especially principles that would empower all individuals and families vis-a-vis the tiny elite who today control money (an undemocratically abused “social tool”) and their political allies.
Pop Francis Quotes:
Pope Francis on Economy-Economic Justice-Inequality (c) 2013, 2014 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
I think of the difficulties which, in various countries, today afflicts the world of work and business; I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice. (5/1/13, Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and World Labor Day,)
People have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in the our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society. (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
…the financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. In the denial of the primacy of human beings! We have created new idols.
The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal. (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
The worldwide financial and economic crisis seems to highlight their distortions and above all the gravely deficient human perspective, which reduces man to one of his needs alone, namely, consumption.
Worse yet, human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away. (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
While the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling. This imbalance results from ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good. (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
I encourage the financial experts and the political leaders of your countries to consider the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It is not our goods that we possess, but theirs.” (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
The Pope appeals for disinterested solidarity and for a return to person-centered ethics in the world of finance and economics (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
The Church encourages those in power to be truly at the service of the common good of their peoples. She urges financial leaders to take account of ethics and solidarity. And why should they not turn to God to draw inspiration from his designs? In this way, a new political and economic mindset would arise that would help to transform the absolute dichotomy between the economic and social spheres into a healthy symbiosis. (5/16/13, Audience with Ambassadors (regarding financial reform)
We must recover the whole sense of gift, of gratuitousness, of solidarity. Rampant capitalism has taught the logic of profit at all costs, of giving to get, of exploitation without looking at the person… and we see the results in the crisis we are experiencing! This Home is a place that teaches charity, a “school” of charity, which instructs me to go encounter every person, not for profit, but for love. (5/21/13, Address During Visit at the Homeless Shelter “Dono Di Maria”)
The current crisis is not only economic and financial but is rooted in an ethical and anthropological crisis. Concern with the idols of power, profit, and money, rather than with the value of the human person has become a basic norm for functioning and a crucial criterion for organization. We have forgotten and are still forgetting that over and above business, logic and the parameters of the market is the human being; and that something is [due to] men and women in as much as they are human beings by virtue of their profound dignity: to offer them the possibility of living a dignified life and of actively participating in the common good. Benedict XVI reminded us that precisely because it is human, all human activity, including economic activity, must be ethically structured and governed (cf. Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, n. 36). We must return to the centrality of the human being, to a more ethical vision of activities and of human relationships without the fear of losing something. (5/25/13, Address to the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation)
Man is not in charge today, money is in charge, money rules. God our Father did not give the task of caring for the earth to money, but to us, to men and women: we have this task! Instead, men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the “culture of waste.” (6/5/13, General Audience on UN World Environment Day)
…men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the “culture of waste.” If you break a computer it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs, the dramas of so many people end up becoming the norm. (6/5/13, General Audience on UN World Environment Day)
… these things become the norm: that some homeless people die of cold on the streets is not news. In contrast, a ten point drop on the stock markets of some cities, is a tragedy. A person dying is not news, but if the stock markets drop ten points it is a tragedy! Thus people are disposed of, as if they were trash. (6/5/13, General Audience on UN World Environment Day)
It is a well-known fact that current levels of production are sufficient, yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation. This, dear friends is truly scandalous. A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being. (6/20/13, Address to the Food and Agricultural Organization) The human person and human dignity risk being turned into vague abstractions in the face of issues like the use of force, war, malnutrition, marginalization, violence, the violation of basic liberties, and financial speculation, which presently affects the price of food, treating it like any other merchandise and overlooking its primary function. Our duty is to continue to insist, in the present international context, that the human person and human dignity are not simply catchwords, but pillars for creating shared rules and structures capable of passing beyond purely pragmatic or technical approaches in order to eliminate divisions and to bridge existing differences. In this regard, there is a need to oppose the shortsighted economic interests and the mentality of power of a relative few who exclude the majority of the world’s peoples, generating poverty and marginalization and causing a breakdown in society. There is likewise a need to combat the corruption which creates privileges for some and injustices for many others. (6/20/13, Address to the Food and Agricultural Organization)
The world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child, not just for citizens of the G20 member states but for every inhabitant of the earth, even those in extreme social situations or in the remotest places. From this standpoint, it is clear that, for the world’s peoples, armed conflicts are always a deliberate negation of international harmony, and create profound divisions and deep wounds which require many years to heal. Wars are a concrete refusal to pursue the great economic and social goals that the international community has set itself, as seen, for example, in the Millennium Development Goals.
Unfortunately, the many armed conflicts which continue to afflict the world today present us daily with dramatic images of misery, hunger, illness and death. Without peace, there can be no form of economic development. Violence never begets peace, the necessary condition for development. (9/4/13, Letter to Vladimir Putin on the Occasion of the G20 Summit)
God did not want an idol to be at the center of the world but man, men and women who would keep the world going with their work. Yet now, in this system devoid of ethics, at the center there is an idol and the world has become an idolater of this “god-money”. … Money is in command! Money lays down the law! It orders all these things that are useful to it, this idol. And what happens? To defend this idol all crowd to the center and those on the margins are done down, the elderly fall away, because there is no room for them in this world! (9/22/13, Meeting With Workers in Cagliari, Sardinia)
We must say “we want a just system! A system that enables everyone to get on”. We must say: “we don’t want this globalized economic system which does us so much harm!”. Men and women must be at the center as God desires, and not money! (9/22/13, Meeting With Workers in Cagliari, Sardinia)
Put the person and work back at the center. The economic crisis has a European and a global dimension; however the crisis is not only economic, it is also ethical, spiritual and human. At its root is a betrayal of the common good, both on the part of individuals and of power groups. It is therefore necessary to remove centrality from the law of profit and gain, and to put the person and the common good back at the center. One very important factor for the dignity of the person is, precisely, work; work must be guaranteed if there is to be an authentic promotion of the person. This task is incumbent on the society as a whole. (9/22/13, Meeting With Workers in Cagliari, Sardinia)
Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 53)
Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “throw away” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 53)
In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 54)
The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! . . . The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 55)
While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 56)
I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs”. [Saint John Chrysostom, De Lazaro Concio, II, 6: PG 48, 992D.] (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 57)
Money must serve, not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and to the return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favors human beings. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 58)
With due respect for the autonomy and culture of every nation, we must never forget that the planet belongs to all mankind and is meant for all mankind; the mere fact that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less development does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity. It must be reiterated that “the more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of others”. [155] (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 190)
A just wage enables them to have adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our common use. (11/24/13, Evangeli Gaudium, no. 192)
Business is a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life; this will enable them truly to serve the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and to make them more accessible to all. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 203)
We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programs, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 204)
Each meaningful economic decision made in one part of the world has repercussions everywhere else; consequently, no government can act without regard for shared responsibility. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy, what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 206)
The dignity of the human person and the common good rank higher than the comfort of those who refuse to renounce their privileges. When these values are threatened, a prophetic voice must be raised. (11/24/13, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 218)
Moreover, if on the one hand we are seeing a reduction in absolute poverty, on the other hand we cannot fail to recognize that there is a serious rise in relative poverty, that is, instances of inequality between people and groups who live together in particular regions or in a determined historical-cultural context. In this sense, effective policies are needed to promote the principle of fraternity, securing for people – who are equal in dignity and in fundamental rights – access to capital, services, educational resources, healthcare and technology so that every person has the opportunity to express and realize his or her life project and can develop fully as a person. (12/8/13, Message for the World Day of Peace)
One also sees the need for policies which can lighten an excessive imbalance between incomes. We must not forget the Church’s teaching on the so-called social mortgage, which holds that although it is lawful, as Saint Thomas Aquinas says, and indeed necessary “that people have ownership of goods”, [12] insofar as their use is concerned, “they possess them as not just their own, but common to others as well, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as themselves”. [13] (12/8/13, Message for the World Day of Peace)
What is needed, then, is a renewed, profound and broadened sense of responsibility on the part of all. “Business is – in fact – a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life” (Evangelii Gaudium, 203).
Such men and women are able to serve more effectively the common good and to make the goods of this world more accessible to all. Nevertheless, the growth of equality demands something more than economic growth, even though it presupposes it. It demands first of all “a transcendent vision of the person” (Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 11), because “without the perspective of eternal life, human progress in this world is denied breathing-space” (ibid.). It also calls for decisions, mechanisms and processes directed to a better distribution of wealth, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. (1/17/14, Message to Chairman of the World Economic Forum)
I am convinced that from such an openness to the transcendent a new political and business mentality can take shape, one capable of guiding all economic and financial activity within the horizon of an ethical approach which is truly humane. The international business community can count on many men and women of great personal honesty and integrity, whose work is inspired and guided by high ideals of fairness, generosity and concern for the authentic development of the human family. I urge you to draw upon these great human and moral resources and to take up this challenge with determination and far-sightedness. Without ignoring, naturally, the specific scientific and professional requirements of every context, I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it. (1/17/14, Message to Chairman of the World Economic Forum)
Comment By Norman Kurland, Center for Economic and Social Justice (www.cesj.org):
What’s missing in Pope Francis’ comments as well as in all the so-called social encyclicals since Pope Leo XII’s Rerum Novarum in 1891 (all excellent on private property as essential to social Justice) is that they all are excellent for teaching the world what is unjust in a world where most humans can only participate as workers, not as owners of the technological and social tools like money and capital credit repayable with future savings in the form of future profits. These create system barriers to equality of ownership opportunities, the ever-growing wealth, income, and power gaps between the richest elite and everyone else. If the system (including academia) keeps most people unaware of these barriers, how do leaders complaining about injustices and flaws in the current system change things (i.e., lift the barriers) so that justice becomes a reality for the victims of the current system?
As a first step, genuine leaders need to offer clearer, more common sense definitions of words, particularly about such a misunderstood term as “Justice.” Keep in mind, that, with rare exception, most law schools teach the law but do not teach the meaning of justice, especially “social justice” and “economic justice.” And if lawyers as “architects” of our laws and basic institutions do not understand terms like “social Justice” and “economic justice” cannot understand these terms, how can we expect non-lawyers to define and understand these terms as essential for creating a more just world for every person.
I feel privileged that I learned the positive principles for a clear and positive definition of “economic justice” from Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler in 1965, 5 years after receiving my Doctor of Law degree from one of the world’s top law schools. And I did not learn the clear and and positive set of principles for understanding “social justice” until 1984 when the scholar and chairman of Dayton University Fr. William Ferree became a co-founder of CESJ.
The world will not change, in fact, it will get worse, until key terms for guiding positive change in the current system are brought to the attention of concerned and open-minded leaders like Pope Francis so that they can be understood especially by the victims, but also by the tiny elite who control the present system. The elite, as powerful as they are, are not the problem. The system is the problem, and the system was made by people, not God. Once universal principles for redesigning the system are understood, then at least 95-99% of the people can organize peacefully and politically to succeed in building a more universally just economic system.
Hence, let’s start with clear definition of key terms that can generate a much more understandable and global framework for communicating to everyone in the world why the system is morally flawed and what can be done about it by those who want to do something about it. If someone with the stature of Pope Francis those he trusts can be exposed to these definitions and agree with them, then the Pope should be interested in publishing an encyclical on economic centered around the three basic and interdependent principles of of “economic justice” as defined below.
Why do I emphasize these three principles of economic justice for getting to the Pope, who would shy away from proposing a new system rather than teaching principles to guide change? I would argue that once the combination of these principles are understood, people can understand why the current system is so unjust and why all three principles are essential for guiding other religious leaders, academics, economists, political leaders, central bankers and commercial bankers, investment bankers, business and insurance leaders, labor leaders, teachers at all levels of learning, families, organization of the poor, and citizens generally on how to redesign the economic system at all levels of human activity. Then those who are greedy or indifferent to systemic injustices would no longer be able to resist the will of the people demanding a more just system.
Please send me your brief feedback on my suggested strategy to get to the Pope personally to urge him to issue an encyclical on economic justice.
To help you and others move forward personally and as a group of Just Third Way supporters on this strategy, below are the terms and words extracted from the Glossary section on CESJ’s home page at www.cesj.org:
Just Third Way. A free market system that economically empowers all individuals and families through the democratization of money and credit for new production, with universal access to direct ownership of income-producing capital. This socio-economic paradigm offers the logical “third alternative” to the two predominant socio-economic paradigms today — capitalism and socialism/communism.
In capitalism, economic power and private ownership of capital are concentrated in a small percentage of the population (i.e., a few own). In socialism/communism, the state owns and/or controls productive capital (i.e., nobody owns). In the “Just Third Way,” widespread dispersion of capital ownership functions as the economic check against the potential for corruption and abuse, including by the government. Restoration of the full rights of property and extension of private property to every individual, serves as the basis for economic democracy, the necessary foundation for effective political democracy.
The “Just Third Way” differs markedly from other versions of the “Third Way,” such as the version espoused by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, which attempts to give moral legitimacy to the Wall Street capitalist approach to economic globalization and blends political democracy with economic plutocracy.
The new paradigm views as a virtue healthy self-interest (i.e., where individual good is directed toward, or in harmony with, the common good). It views greed and envy, on the other hand, as vices, both destructive of a moral and just society. In contrast to capitalism which institutionalizes greed, or socialism which institutionalizes envy, the “Just Third Way” institutionalizes justice.
Justice. Functionally, justice is a set of universal principles that guide people in judging what is right and what is wrong, no matter what culture and society they live in. It is one of the cardinal individual virtues of classical moral philosophy, along with fortitude (courage), temperance (self-control), and prudence (effectiveness). Justice is based on the maxim of suum cuique, “to each his due,” or, “to each his own.” Justice as a moral virtue disposes one person to respect the rights of others and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity and fairness with regard to other persons and to the common good. The basis of justice is the dignity of each human person. Justice reflects the qualities of balance and equivalence. It holds that each person deserves to be rewarded for his virtues/good habits and good actions and penalized for his vices/bad habits and bad actions.
Justice, Commutative. Also referred to under classical philosophy as “strict justice,” commutative justice deals with exchanges of equal or equivalent value between individuals or groups of individuals. In reference to exchanges between parties to a transaction, it imposes a duty of an exact measurement that must be discharged with something having that exact, objective value. That is, a debt of five dollars must be repaid with five dollars.
Justice, Distributive. Defined by Aristotle in his Ethics, the classic concept of distributive justice is based on a proportionality of value given and received, rather than on a strict equality of results. It deals with a distribution or division of something among various people interacting cooperatively with one another, in shares proportionate to the value of each one’s relative contribution to the outcome.
Through the distributional features of private property within a free and open marketplace, distributive justice becomes automatically linked to participative justice, and incomes become linked to productive contributions. The principle of distributive justice involves the sanctity of property and contracts. It turns to the free and open marketplace, not government, as the most objective and democratic means for determining the just price, the just wage, and the just profit — presuming that every person owns and controls the means (both labor and capital) to participate equally, freely and fully in the economy.
The distributive principle of justice differs from that of charity. Charity involves the concept “to each according to his needs,” whereas “distributive justice” is based on the idea “to each according to his contribution.”
Justice, Economic. Economic justice is a subset of social justice. It encompasses the moral principles that guide people in creating, maintaining and perfecting economic institutions. These institutions determine how each person earns a living, enters into contracts, exchanges goods and services with others and otherwise produces an independent material foundation for economic subsistence. The ultimate purpose of economic justice is to free each person economically to develop to the full extent of his or her potential, enabling that person to engage in the unlimited work beyond economics, the work of the mind and the spirit done for its own intrinsic value and satisfaction. (See “Work, Leisure”)
The triad of interdependent principles of economic justice that serve as the moral basis of binary economics are: Participative Justice (the input principle), Distributive Justice (the out-take principle), and Social Justice (the feedback principle). This third principle, as it pertains here to economic systems, encompasses and operates at all levels, from the macro-level of a global economy to the micro-level of every institution and enterprise, and every member within them. Social Justice places a personal responsibility on every individual to organize with others to correct their economic institutions when there is a barrier to, or violation of, participative justice and/or distributive justice. Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler, in their book The Capitalist Manifesto, referred to the feedback principle as the “principle of limitation” (or “anti-monopoly” or “anti-greed” principle). This refers to the limitation on the exercise of a person’s property, such that one’s property may not be used to harm the person or property of another, violate participative or distributive justice, or harm the general welfare. “Economic harmony” exists when participative and distributive justice are working fully for every person within a free and just marketplace.
Justice, Individual. Those moral principles and virtues that apply to and guide interactions between individuals. In contrast, “social justice” governs how we, as members of groups, relate to our institutions and social systems, particularly whether each of us is able to participate fully in the common good.
Justice, Participative. Participative justice refers to the right that everyone has to participate fully in all institutions of the common good, including a right of access to the means to participate. George Mason, in the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, specified as one of the fundamental human rights, access to “the means of acquiring and possessing property.” As first identified and defined by Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler as the “input principle” in economic justice, participative justice refers to the ordering of our economic institutions.
This principle requires that every person have access to the means and opportunity to contribute economic value through both labor and capital inputs. In economic justice, distribution follows participation. What each person is entitled to receive is determined by his or her relative contribution/participation. As advancing technology begins to contribute a proportionately greater share than human labor to the production of marketable goods and services, participative justice demands the elimination of barriers to capital ownership. Participative justice also requires the universalization of access to such social goods as capital credit through a well-organized banking and legal system.
Justice, Social. Social justice is the particular virtue whose object is the common good of all human society, rather than, as with individual justice, the individual good of any member or group. (See “Common Good.”) It is one of the basic social virtues in the field of social morality. Social justice guides humans as social beings in creating and perfecting organized human interactions, or institutions. It is the principle for restoring moral balance and harmony in the social order.
Social Justice encompasses and operates within every level of the social order, from the macro-level (the “common good” of society) to the micro-level of each organization and enterprise. It organizes systems so that they provide every member of that system with equal opportunity and access to such social goods (or social tools) as money, credit, and the ballot, in order to be able to participate fully in the system.
Social justice imposes on each member of society a personal responsibility to work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development. To the extent an institution violates the human dignity and rights of any person or group, organized acts of social justice are required to correct the defects in that institution. Actions such as “social justice tithing,” for example, recognize a personal responsibility to devote a certain amount of time toward working with others to improve the organizations and institutions in which we live and work.
Justice-Based Leadership (“JBL”). A leadership philosophy that aligns individual and group values, mission, actions, structures, and systems around a shared understanding of, and adherence to, clearly defined principles of justice.
To value oneself and, at the same time, subordinate oneself to higher purposes and principles is the paradoxical essence of highest humanity and the foundation of effective justice-based leadership.
JBL encompasses concepts of “servant leadership”, “transformational leadership”, and “principle-centered leadership,” all of which recognize the impact of personal and organizational values on the behavior, performance and development of the leader, other members, and the organization as a whole.
Reflected in the JBL philosophy are three aspects of servant-leadership: trust, appreciation, and empowerment of others. The four components of transformational leadership embodied in JBL are: charisma or idealized influence (the leader as role model), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and consideration of the individual. As expressed in JBL, the components of principle-centered leadership include: personal character, competence, and commitment to natural law principles. Principle-based leaders build these principles into the center of their lives, their relationships with others, their agreements and contracts, and their mission statements and management processes.
The goal of JBL is to center all aspects of our lives on correct principles and for each person to develop a rich internal power. Empowerment of others, a fundamental objective of Justice-Based Leadership, comes about when both principles and practices of justice are understood and applied at all levels of an organization or society. In particular, the distribution of direct capital ownership reflects the distribution of economic power and the degree to which economic justice exists within a system. The challenge to justice-based leaders is to promote a culture that develops, enriches and empowers each member of the group and thereby strengthens the whole.
Justice-Based Management (“JBM”). A management system embodying the philosophy of “Justice-Based Leadership” that is organized in accordance with universal principles of economic and social justice. (Originally called “Value-Based Management” or “VBM”.)
JBM provides a framework of principles for creating sustainable ownership cultures. It measures success within a productive enterprise according to the delivery of maximum value to the customer and the empowerment of each person within the enterprise as both a worker and an owner. This success is translated into increased, long-term corporate profitability.
Increases in value delivered to the customer can be measured by the formula “V=Q/P,” where V=Value, Q=Quality and P=Price. In other words, value to the customer increases when the quality of a good or service increases and its price stays constant or decreases.
JBM builds into the structuring of all management systems and operations the three principles of economic justice:
- Participative Justice: The input principle that all people have a right to live in a culture that offers them equality of dignity and opportunity, and with equal access to the means of acquiring property and power. Such social means are necessary for all members of a society or institution to exercise their fundamental rights, and contribute to the success of the whole and to their personal success.
- Distributive Justice: The out-take principle that all people have a right to receive a proportionate, market-determined share of the value of the marketable goods and services they contributed to production, both through their labor and their ownership of productive assets. (In contrast, the distribution principle for charity is based on need, not one’s contribution to production.)
- Social Justice: The feedback principle that balances and corrects organizational systems to operate according to “participative justice” and “distributive justice.” Referred to by Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler as the third “principle of limitation,” it discourages greed, prevents monopolies and limits the exercise of property rights when such exercise harms others or their property, or harms the general welfare. Social Justice holds that every person has a personal responsibility to organize with others to correct their organizations, institutions and societies whenever the principles of “participation” or “distribution” are violated or not operating properly.
