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Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy Values, Do values matter in economic and social policy? Can Catholic Social Thought help us understand Catholic Social economic and social issues, especially the goal of a just society? This book sets out to answer these and Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public PolicyValues, Reynolds/Healy 2007 many related questions. Thought The chapters are papers delivered at a policy conference held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of and the CORI Justice Office and its work to promote social justice in Ireland. The book seeks to offer insights into our understanding of economic and social issues, Public Policy particularly efforts to promote a just society. The goal of Catholic Social Thought is not to offer an answer to every economic or social question but instead to offer a lens through which to view specific social and economic problems. This perspective argues that economic and social actions are inherently moral actions. Yet the assertion that values matter is a contested issue in many areas of public policy. The authors come from a range of disciplines and areas of work but all are committed to ongoing public debate around these key issues and to promoting public policy which leads to a fairer, more just society for all. € CORI Justice, 12.50 Bloomfield Avenue, Dublin 4 Phone: 01 6677 363 Fax: 01 6689 460 Email: [email protected] Website: www.cori.ie/justice CORI Justice VALUES, CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT AND PUBLIC POLICY Edited by Brigid Reynolds, s.m. and Seán Healy, s.m.a. CORI Justice I.S.B.N. No. 978 1 872335 66 7 First Published: October 2007 Published by: CORI Justice Bloomfield Avenue, Dublin 4, Ireland Tel: 01-6677 363 Fax: 01-6689 460 e-mail: [email protected] Sponsored by AIB Investment Managers AIB Investment House, Percy Place, Dublin 4. Tel: (01) 661 7077 Capital Fax: (01) 661 7038 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction v 1 The Contribution of Catholic Social Thought to Economic Policy 1 Charles M. A. Clark 2 Corporate Social Responsibility and 22 Catholic Social Thought André Habisch 3. Globalisation, the Common Good and Catholic Social Thought 34 Lorna Gold 4. Work For All in a World of Rapid Change 87 - A Catholic Social Thought Perspective Brigid Reynolds and Seán Healy 5 Work and Catholic Social Thought 125 David Begg 6 The Catholic Church and Social Policy 143 Tony Fahey 7 Addressing Public Policy from a Catholic 164 Social Thought Perspective: An Irish Experience Seán Healy and Brigid Reynolds CONTRIBUTORS David Begg is General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Charles M. A. Clark is Professor of Economics and Associate Dean, Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University, New York, USA. Tony Fahey is Professor at the School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin, Ireland. Lorna Gold is Advocacy Manager, Trócaire, Ireland. André Habisch is Professor, Centre for Corporate Social Resonsibility, University of Eichstätt, Germany. Seán Healy is Director of CORI Justice, Ireland. Brigid Reynolds is Director of CORI Justice, Ireland. INTRODUCTION Do values matter in economic and social policy? Does the Catholic social thought tradition offer any insights to our understanding of economic and social issues, particularly in relation to the goal of promoting a just society? Searching for answers to these and many other related questions prompted this publication. While maintaining a strict adherence to the Gospel values from which it sprang the social teachings of the Catholic Church have also laid great emphasis on understanding the historical and social context in which economic and social activity takes place. It calls for an accurate reading of the ‘signs of the times’. The goal of Catholic social thought is not to offer an answer to every economic or social question but instead to offer a lens through which to view specific social and economic problems. This perspective argues that economic and social actions are inherently moral actions. Yet the assertion that values matter is a contested issue in many areas of public policy. The chapters in this book, which were first presented at a policy conference on the topic of Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy, seek to address some of the key questions and issues that emerge in this area. They mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the CORI Justice Office which has sought to address these questions and issues on a day to day basis for a quarter of a century. Our approach over that time and our reflections are outlined in the final chapter. In presenting this volume we do not attempt to cover all the questions that arise around this topic. This volume is offered as a v contribution to the ongoing public debate around these and related issues. CORI Justice expresses its deep gratitude to the authors of the various chapters that follow. They contributed long hours and their obvious talent to preparing these chapters. A special word of thanks also to the AIB Investment Managers whose financial assistance made this publication possible. Brigid Reynolds Seán Healy October 16th, 2007 vi Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy 1. The Contribution of Catholic Social Thought to Economic Policy Charles M. A. Clark “The time has come for a new and deeper reflection on the nature of the economy and its purposes” John Paul II 1.1 Introduction The purpose of this essay is to defend two somewhat controversial assertions: 1. For economic policy to effectively promote the common good it has to be based on a firm ethical foundation and a rigorous ethical analysis; and 2. The Catholic social thought tradition provides an ethical foundation that can help guide economic policy towards the common good. Both assertions are based on the much less controversial proposition that modern capitalist economies require state intervention (including economic policies) to promote prosperity and stability.1 We shall not concern ourselves with 19th Century laissez-faire economics, even if it does still have its proponents. Our concern is with the role ethical analysis can play in the formation and implementation of economic policy, particularly the insights Catholic social thought brings to the process. 1 The reality of the mixed economy is commonly accepted, with most of the debate centering on where the line separating public intervention and private initiative should be. One of the current trends in economic policy is for “public-private partnerships” which recognizes that it is increasingly difficult in a modern economy to separate the two spheres Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy 1 The Contribution of Catholic Social Thought to Economic Policy The assertion that economic policy requires ethical analysis is controversial because it challenges the underlying assumption that neoclassical economic theory is a “positive” science, and thus free of values and value judgments. Using the term “common good” also challenges the view of society that underlies neoclassical economics. The Catholic definition of “the common good” is problematic for neoclassical economists because it asserts that there is a “good” distinct from the sum total of individual “goods.” Neoclassical economic theory implicitly, and often explicitly, rejects the idea that society is anything other than the sum total of its individuals, in fact society is seen as a “mental fiction”; only individual are real. Since neoclassical economic theory reduces the individual good to maximizing consumption through exchange they equate the common good with economic statistics such as Gross Domestic Product or per capita income. The second assertion is even more controversial, for it argues that economics as a discipline, and economic policy as an activity, can benefit from insights derived from moral theology. This certainly goes against the whole Enlightenment project of freeing reason from faith (which philosophers are increasing realizing is impossible). No doubt many will argue that it violates principles of the separation of Church and state.2 Yet most will agree that humans are more than just economic actors, and that the various factors that influence their actions (socialization, politics, culture, and their relationship with their creator) all overlap with each other, and that understanding each assists in understanding the economy and economic actions. Many will no doubt recognize the usefulness of an understanding of the disciplines of sociology, political science, social psychology and the humanities in order to better understand economic activity based on the simple fact that economic activity does not exist in a vacuum and is not easily separated from other social factors. The problem of separating economics from other social factors is that it ignores what is behind economic activity, that is what motivates and informs human activity at its deepest level, what shapes the values and the value judgments that 2 The irony of this criticism lies in the fact that the assertion of the separation of Church and state originates in the Catholic Church. 2 Values, Catholic Social Thought and Public Policy Charles M. A. Clark guide and determine our countless economic actions. These valuesultimately come to us from our relationship and understanding of God and the discipline that studies this is moral theology. This is true even for atheists (their motivations and values are as shaped by their understanding of God as any religious person). Furthermore the Judeo- Christian tradition in general, and Christian ethical analysis in particular which carries forward the classical tradition of Aristotle, is the foundation of Western values, and it is impossible to make sense of the West, even in its current secular state, without understanding Christian moral theology. This is especially true for the role of ethics in economic activity, where values play such a key role in regulating individual activity with only minimal government control and coercion. To fully understand economic activity we need to go beyond economic motives.
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