The ecological movement questions the productivist model our societies inherited from the Industrial Revolution. Productivism is based on the belief that the continuous increase in production is possible and desirable. Political ecology and scientists denounce the adverse effects of productivism, in that it produces waste, exhausts natural resources and results in global warming. In this context, this article explores the relationship between social law and productivism. Critical legal scholars classically highlight the function of social law in redistributing the value generated by labour under capitalism. Our aim is to shift the focus and examine the function of social law prior to that, in the definition of what value is, more specifically what kind of labour is considered as creating value and is therefore to be supported. Through the characterization of the forms of work promoted in social law, the article demonstrates the ambivalence of this branch of law towards productivism. It is strongly rooted in the productivist model since it has been constructed around the concept of labour exchanged in the market, considered as the best way to ensure continual growth. However, at the same time, it relativizes productivism by promoting, in some places, economically non-productive but nonetheless (eco) socially useful activities.
Productivism, Foundations of Social Law, Ecosocial Welfare, Sustainable Welfare, Right to Work, Decommodification, Post-productivism, Value of Work, Critical Labour Law, Critical Legal Studies
Welfare-to-work programmes imply a legal duty to perform work, often accompanied by sanctions which can be questioned from the angle of human rights and the freedom of work. The chapter examines the conformity of those programmes with the prohibition of forced labour and the right to freely chosen work proclaimed in international human rights instruments. It shows that the mandatory character of those programmes does not violate per se the prohibition of forced labour, neither the right to freely chosen work. However, those fundamental rights set limits and frames the development of welfare to work measures. Through a rigorous analysis of the emerging international case law, the chapter identifies six criteria for assessing the conformity of welfare-to-work programmes with those rights.
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