Social Justice

While activists may argue that achieving social justice is the most significant social justice challenge, scholars may argue that defining social justice is more of a challenge. Over the ages, many books and articles have been written about social justice without ever [Page 883]defining it. This may be partly due to a reticence to define a term that often changes, depending upon the times (and this is a major critique of social justice movements; that the term itself is an umbrella term to encompass virtually any movement). The reticence to define the term may also be partly due to the attachment of the term to at least two major arenas: ideological and pragmatic. For ideologues, social justice may mean one thing. For those working in practical and everyday ways to address social justice issues, it may mean something else entirely. Definitions also change depending upon what brings one to social justice work: morals, politics, or social or economic concerns?

Social justice is often referred to (or designated) as a moral virtue: It is linked with religious or other similar movements or orders (for example, some orders of Catholics, specifically the Jesuits and the Benedictine orders, are particularly concerned with social justice). Social justice is also often referred to (or designated) as part of certain political movements: It is associated with socialism, Marxism, and other radical or progressive political parties. Finally, social justice is often referred to (or designated) as a social or economic movement; it is associated with national and international movements for peace, equity, economic justice, racial justice, human rights, women's and children's issues, living wages, and social and physical safety and security.

The term social justice appears first to have been used in the 1840s by Italian priests. John Stuart Mill, in his 1863 text Utilitarianism, defined social and distributive justice as a standard of equality toward which all institutions and virtuous citizens should treat people. The term came to prominence as an appeal to the ruling classes to attend to the needs of those displaced in a shift from rural to urban economies. Social justice is social in that it involves working with and organizing socially to work together toward some goal of justice and in that it involves works of justice that benefit the common.

Justice is defined as the quality of being just or fair. Most definitions of justice contain references to moral rightness. Social justice, as previously indicated, is typically linked to distributive justice, or the just (right) distribution of limited resources relative to demand. Distributive justice is often closely linked to the concepts of human dignity, the common good, and human rights. Distributive justice refers to what society owes individual members in proportion to: the individual's needs, contribution, and responsibility; the resources available; and society's responsibility to the common good. Implied here is that society and virtuous citizens have a duty to individuals in serious need. Also implicit is that all individuals are entitled to equal access to the basics necessary for living humanely. Distributive justice is not the same as legal justice, which is defined as the rights and responsibilities (social contract) to honor and obey laws and regulations deemed necessary to protect peace and social order.

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