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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2024

Supriya Routh
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

This book is premised on the understanding that work is a political idea of wide import and regulation of work is an exercise in public reasoning, whereby citizens accept the general idea of such regulation (labour law) because it is justified by an appeal to broadly accepted political ideals in contrast to justifications based primarily on private self-interested motives. The political notion of work and, relatedly, the just treatment of workers are articulated through the imagination of citizenship. The concept of duty-bearing citizenship is central to the articulation of the social justice agenda under the Constitution of India, 1950. Citizenship is understood as a basis for social cooperation, and the latter is essential to the formation and development of the independent constitutional state. At the same time, the conceptual and institutional project of social justice under the Indian Constitution unfolds with reference to social cooperation inherent in the idea of Indian citizenship. Indian citizenship cannot merely be defined on the basis of legal rights that citizens can validly demand against the state. The idea of citizenship carries with it substantial constitutional duties. These duties are central to the understanding of citizenship in India. The Constitution enumerates a number of citizenship duties, which every Indian citizen is expected to abide by and fulfil. One among these duties receives significant prominence under the Constitution, which is the duty to individually and collectively excel in their activities, including work or labour (as a core human activity), in a manner that contributes to the development of society (or the state). That this duty to work (and to excel in one's respective work) is fundamental to defining Indian citizenship is evident from the constitutional structure that furthers the social justice project of the constitutional state. The social justice project of the Constitution unfolds primarily through Parts III and IV of the Constitution, dealing with fundamental rights of individual citizens and fundamental duties of the state, respectively. Although the social justice project under the Constitution develops with reference to citizens’ duty to work and their social cooperation as workers, a duty-based conceptualisation of citizenship is yet to receive much prominence in political and legal scholarship. While citizenship obligations have been recognised in prominent accounts of citizenship, these obligations are conceived primarily as participatory and deliberative political duties, rather than an obligation to contribute by means of individual and collective labour.

Type
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Labour Justice
A Constitutional Evaluation of Labour Law
, pp. ix - xxii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Preface
  • Supriya Routh, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: Labour Justice
  • Online publication: 30 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009445368.001
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  • Preface
  • Supriya Routh, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: Labour Justice
  • Online publication: 30 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009445368.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Supriya Routh, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: Labour Justice
  • Online publication: 30 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009445368.001
Available formats
×