Migration, workers’ rights topic of research for MSU political science faculty member

by Sam Kealhofer, Intern on the A&S Research Support Team

Contemporary capitalism, border and migration policy, the role of work in society, as well as social programs like the unconditional basic income (UBI), Political Science and Public Administration Associate Professor James Chamberlain’s work resonates with a large audience during the 2020 election cycle.

His latest article, “Responsibility for Migrants: From Hospitality to Solidarity,” published in the peer-reviewed journal Political Theory, critically analyzes the paradigm of hospitality and proposes an alternative approach based on solidarity. The violence and death suffered by migrants in both Europe and the United States motivated Chamberlain to develop a series of related essays. He notes that although critics of exclusionary border regimes are often tempted to appeal for greater hospitality, this framework “is inadequate because it rests on two questionable and problematic assumptions: a clear distinction between hosts and guests, and the exclusive right of ‘hosts’ to impose conditions on the entry and stay of ‘guests.’”

These assumptions, Chamberlain highlights, are particularly problematic because of ongoing legacies of imperialism and the functioning of global capitalism, both of which are forces that shape migration of people across borders. Recognizing shared responsibility to address structural injustices to which humans’ actions contribute, Chamberlain proposes a different border policy based on solidarity, which would build upon, expand and modify the existing international refugee framework.

In his newest book “Undoing Work, Rethinking Community” (Cornell University Press, 2018) Chamberlain asks how and why full citizenship in contemporary society depends upon paid employment. He said the connection is “all the more puzzling given that paid work and the civic duty to perform it undermine freedom and justice.”

His book traces the political significance of work to the belief that community and civilization are the products of work. Chamberlain’s work explores the openings and limitations for expanded freedom available within contemporary society, investigating in particular the regime of flexibility and proposals for the unconditional basic income (UBI). While both offer prospects for greater freedom and justice, Chamberlain said they can only do so if “we reconfigure the value and place of paid work in our lives.”

Chamberlain said society needs to rethink the meaning of community “at a deeper level, and in particular, abandon the view that community is constructed by work.” Chamberlain argues that a liberal-reformist approach to lessening the burden of paid work that fails to tackle the underlying economic and social structure offers limited gains in terms of freedom and justice. Moving beyond the work society, therefore, entails nothing short of a new conception of community and the struggle against capitalism, Chamberlain said.

For more than five years, Chamberlain has applied his knowledge of political and philosophical theory to issues whose importance has become prominent in 2020. He has recently turned his attention to the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate its impact on American culture.

Chamberlain’s recent article “COVID-19 and the art of life” published online by Open Democracy examines responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also commenting on the double-edged nature of reason leading up to and during the spread of the virus. Chamberlain said while rationality is important and can help mitigate future disasters, “it was the abuse of rational discourse within global capitalism that created the possibility of such a tragedy like the pandemic to occur in the first place.”

Chamberlain asks, “Is it reasonable to place our faith in reason to deliver us from future calamities of our own making? If not, what would a counter-reason entail?” He suggests a

discourse that embraces the “art of life” would make rationality more humane because it would account for both quantitative and qualitative measures of value.

While his theories challenge conceptions of community, citizenship and who has access to these benefits, Chamberlain’s research frames alternatives for migration and social policy that could help individuals achieve more freedom in an ever-globalizing world.

In an effort to contribute solutions to the various challenges facing the nation, as well as insight into other points of interest, the College of Arts and Sciences will continue to highlight faculty research in our “Research in the Headlines” series each Monday and Wednesday. For more research in the headlines, visit https://www.cas.msstate.edu/research/researchintheheadlines/; and for information about the College of Arts and Sciences or the Department of Political Science and Public Administration visit https://www.cas.msstate.edu/ or https://www.pspa.msstate.edu/.