The dialogic negotiation of justice

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to reveal the complexities of negotiating justice. We present the case of workers’ experiences during a long-running industrial dispute at Australia’s first legal casino. First, we consider the concept of justice, drawing on discussions from tourism studies. This notion is considered in relation to an industrial dispute at the casino. Second, we use Bakhtin’s dialogic imagination to explore the issues, primarily through the voices of the workers. The concepts of heteroglossia, polyphony and carnivalesque facilitate layering the voices and concerns of the workers. Formal and informal strategies to exert influence are present. Within the carnivalesque, there is order and disorder. Different parties present a cacophony of voices, asserting the just-ness of their position. We discuss how, as boundaries of social action are negotiated, the parties are effectively negotiating justice. Third, we suggest how, from our Bakhtinian perspective, justice is a social activity, doing justice is a social process, and achieving justice is hard. Finally, we share some broader suggestions and reflections on the complexities and contradictions.

Keywords:

• Bakhtin
• casinos
• fairness
• justice
• protests
• unions

Acknowledgements

United Voice union (now the United Workers Union) and its members who generously shared their time and experiences with the researchers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Becky Shelley

Dr Becky Shelley is a political scientist who works at the Peter Underwood Centre at the University of Tasmania. She has experience working at the intersection of policy, practice and research in the pursuit of social justice and social change.

Can-Seng Ooi

Professor Can-Seng Ooi is a sociologist and Professor of Cultural and Heritage Tourism at the School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania. In his three-decade long research career, he drew comparative lessons from Singapore, Denmark, China, Australia and other countries.

Lisa Denny

Dr Lisa Denny is a demographer and Research Fellow with the Institute of Social Change at the University of Tasmania. Her research interests are in the nexus between the population, education and training and work and well-being in the context of population change and socio-economic renewal, with an emphasis at a sub-national level.