City Research Online

Abstract

In this paper I explore the hypothesis that a conception of right(s) that draws from the notion of needs is crucial for a critique of market constitutionalism. To this end, I review different theories of need, revisit the ‘needs versus rights’ debate and set it in the context of the Marxist critique of rights. Market rationality pits ‘needs’ against ‘rights’ (in the legal field) and favours a narrow conception of ‘need’ (in the field of normative theory). In contrast to this, I propose a rich conception of ‘need’ based on Marx’s critique of capitalism and explore its potential for a materialist conception of right(s). I conclude with a tentative exploration of the constitutional implications of adopting a needs-based approach to rights, in terms of both judicial and political decision-making forms. To develop the above argument, I focus on labour rights – especially the ways in which market rationality has affected the conception and application of labour rights in the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Rights, critique of rights, needs, market constitutionalism, economic democracy, socialist constitutionalism
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JA Political science (General) K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	The City Law School The City Law School > Academic Programmes
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads