By Mandy X. Hu
‘It just frustrates me that it’s so unfair!’
The PhD candidate, let’s call him Joe, fumes when he relives the situation where his colleague, let’s call him Bob, spends much less time on a joint project, while getting a shared first authorship. What do you think: Is that fair? The need for fairness is deeply ingrained in the human brain – and in that of some animals: I’ve seen a capuchin monkey throw a cucumber back to a human because another monkey got a grape for the same task (you can watch the video here). They we’re right to do so, because it was indeed unfair – right?
A human ideal
When I look up ‘fair’ in a dictionary, I get something in the lines of ‘agreeing with what is thought to be right or acceptable, or treating a group of people equally and not allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment’. Sounds about right, but what does it really mean? Is there a universal and unanimous thought about what’s right or acceptable? And if personal opinions should not influence our judgement, what should? Measurable characteristics? But which ones? And aren’t there a lot of characteristics that can’t really be objectively measured?
Let’s take a look at the case of Joe. You may understand his point of view – in his shoes you would probably also feel frustrated. He spent more time on the project ergo he should get more reward for it. But what if you had heard the story of his lazy-ass colleague first? Bob’s words: ‘It’s not fair that he’s on my case so much about making the hours. I work very efficiently and I’m making a lot of effort in the time I spent on it, while he sometimes takes ages to get something done.’ What do you think? Also fair? Perhaps now you think, we should measure the amount of work they both did. But what if Joe technically gets more words on paper while Bob does more of the intangible organizational work for the project?
Although the need for fairness seems to be universal, the definition of fairness is hard to grasp. There are numerous measurable and immeasurable factors that could be taken into account. Even if we have collectively decided on a set of factors, how to weigh the importance of each factor? Is time more important than effort? Is written work more important than organizational work? It depends on who you ask and it depends on who it benefits. You may have an ‘objective’ verdict while looking from the outside, but what if you we’re really in Joe’s shoes? And what if you we’re really in the same situation as Bob? Probably your sense of fairness would not be so steadfast.
An imperfect idea
I’m not saying we should abandon our justice system or our strive for equality, but perhaps we can let go of our righteous, unwavering notion of fairness some. Truth is that the world and the people in it may not always agree with our ideal of fairness. And instead of holding on to our own convictions, thereby making others wrong, we might seek to understand and hold the situation with compassion. In doing so, we can still demonstrate against climate change and march for human rights – but the intent can be healing the suffering of the planet instead of convincing the other that our idea of fairness is better than theirs. We can appeal to the other’s compassion and cultivate our own compassion for a different point of view, leading to conversation that brings closer instead of a fight that creates distance.
In the case of the PhD candidates my advice would be: talk about it, explain where you’re coming from and the pain you’ve been experiencing, and listen to the other. What if Joe lets Bob know that he’s been putting in hours of his weekend and free time and it feels like he’s sacrificed a lot? And what if Bob lets Joe know that he’s tried to manage his time efficiently, because he’s caring for his sick mom at home? Perhaps this conversation will not lead to a unanimously fair answer to the situation, but it may lead to more understanding, connection, and compassion. And if we have that, does it really matter what is fair?
Do you recognize yourself in this article? The PhD advisors are here for you. Get in touch with us for a consultation (phdadvisor@amsterdamumc.nl).