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Social Justice

Social justice is an intellectual and practical response to Cervantes's observation in Don Quixote that “there are only two kinds of families in the world … The Haves and the Have-Nots.” of course, a concern for social justice is more than simply acknowledging the inequalities of life. The following three questions outline a discussion about social justice. First, how has social justice been theorized as a moral question? This approach situates social justice as a philosophical ideal. Second, how do we measure social justice? This view positions social justice as a field of scientific inquiry defined in opposition to social inequality and prejudice. Third, what can be done about human suffering? Here, social justice is a call to action. These three questions provide a framework for defining social justice.

Social Justice As A Philosophical Ideal

Human societies depend on social norms and laws to regulate human behavior. When people break laws, they usually face repercussions. Criminal justice is served when punishment is meted out in proportion to the crime that was willfully committed. Social justice, on the other hand, questions why people suffer even though they have done nothing wrong. The implication is that we need to abide by universal standards of fairness and basic human rights.

Philosophers have discussed basic human rights for millennia. Plato, writing more than 2,000 years ago, said that Greek citizens should deal with foreigners as Greeks deal with one another. The Roman philosopher Cicero argued that every person should be valued as a citizen of the whole universe. The notion that we should treat others as we would have them treat us can also be found in many foundational religious texts, including the Bible and the Koran.

Leaping forward to the 18th century, the call for universal human rights was enshrined by Thomas Jefferson in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wrote that all Americans had basic rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But this represents only a limited “equality of opportunity,” where individual freedoms allow people to succeed in life but provide no guarantee that success will occur. Freedom of opportunity only provides a legal framework for equality before the law. It says nothing about equality of outcomes, where people might expect freedom from hunger, poverty, or violence.

Social Justice As Social Scientific Inquiry

Given the geographical variations in the distribution of natural resources, the randomness of natural disasters, and other factors beyond human control that create social inequality, some philosophers argue that social justice must also focus on equality of outcomes. Social justice is therefore an effort to strike a balance between individual rights and the common good, which we might define as community rights.

To gauge whether equality of outcomes has been achieved, measurements must be taken. One way to compare regional inequalities is to focus on quantitative income or poverty statistics. More sophisticated measures such as the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) include literacy rates, infant mortality rates, and life expectancy. The HDI recognizes that simply using income or economic output measures, such as the gross national product, to compare regional inequality hides the fact that countries with large economies may have large internal economic disparities or restrictions on human rights.

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