Social justice

For the early-20th-century periodical, see Social Justice (periodical). For the academic journal established in 1974, see Social Justice (journal).

Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected.[1][2] In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive their due from society.[3][4][5] In the current movements for social justice, the emphasis has been on the breaking of barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets, and economic justice.[6][7][8][9][10][excessive citations] Social justice assigns rights and duties in the institutions of society, which enables people to receive the basic benefits and burdens of cooperation. The relevant institutions often include taxation, social insurance, public health, public school, public services, labor law and regulation of markets, to ensure distribution of wealth, and equal opportunity.[11]

Modernist interpretations that relate justice to a reciprocal relationship to society are mediated by differences in cultural traditions, some of which emphasize the individual responsibility toward society and others the equilibrium between access to power and its responsible use.[12] Hence, social justice is invoked today while reinterpreting historical figures such as Bartolomé de las Casas, in philosophical debates about differences among human beings, in efforts for gender, ethnic, and social equality, for advocating justice for migrants, prisoners, the environment, and the physically and developmentally disabled.[13][14][15]

While concepts of social justice can be found in classical and Christian philosophical sources, from early Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle to Catholic saints Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, the term social justice finds its earliest uses in the late eighteenth century, albeit with unclear theoretical or practical meanings.[16][17][18] The use of the term was early on subject to accusations of redundancy and of rhetorical flourish, perhaps but not necessarily related to amplifying one view of distributive justice.[19] In the coining and definition of the term in the natural law social scientific treatise of Luigi Taparelli, in the early 1840s,[20] Taparelli established the natural law principle that corresponded to the evangelical principle of brotherly love—i.e. social justice reflects the duty one has to one's other self in the interdependent abstract unity of the human person in society.[21] After the Revolutions of 1848, the term was popularized generically through the writings of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati.[22][23]

In the late industrial revolution, Progressive Era American legal scholars began to use the term more, particularly Louis Brandeis and Roscoe Pound. From the early 20th century it was also embedded in international law and institutions; the preamble to establish the International Labour Organization recalled that "universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice." In the later 20th century, social justice was made central to the philosophy of the social contract, primarily by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice (1971). In 1993, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action treats social justice as a purpose of human rights education.[24][25]

  1. ^ "social justice". Oxford reference. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  2. ^ Abbott, Katherine (2014). "Social Justice". Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 6115–6119. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2772. ISBN 978-94-007-0753-5.
  3. ^ Aristotle, The Politics (ca 350 BC)
  4. ^ Clark, Mary T. (2015). "Augustine on Justice," a Chapter in Augustine and Social Justice. Lexington Books. pp. 3–10. ISBN 978-1-4985-0918-3.
  5. ^ Banai, Ayelet; Ronzoni, Miriam; Schemmel, Christian (2011). Social Justice, Global Dynamics: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives. Florence: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-0-203-81929-6.
  6. ^ Kitching, G. N. (2001). Seeking Social Justice Through Globalization Escaping a Nationalist Perspective. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 3–10. ISBN 978-0-271-02377-9.
  7. ^ Hillman, Arye L. (2008). "Globalization and Social Justice". The Singapore Economic Review. 53 (2): 173–189. doi:10.1142/s0217590808002896.
  8. ^ Lawrence, Cecile & Natalie Churn (2012). Movements in Time Revolution, Social Justice, and Times of Change. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Pub. pp. xi–xv. ISBN 978-1-4438-4552-6.
  9. ^ Agartan, Kaan (2014). "Globalization and the Question of Social Justice". Sociology Compass. 8 (6): 903–915. doi:10.1111/soc4.12162.
  10. ^ El Khoury, Ann (2015). Globalization Development and Social Justice: A propositional political approach. Florence: Taylor and Francis. pp. 1–20. ISBN 978-1-317-50480-1.
  11. ^ John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971) 4, "the principles of social justice: they provide a way of assigning rights and duties in the basic institutions of society and they define the appropriate distribution of benefits and burdens of social co-operation."
  12. ^ Aiqing Zhang; Feifei Xia; Chengwei Li (2007). "The Antecedents of Help Giving in Chinese Culture: Attribution, Judgment of Responsibility, Expectation Change and the Reaction of Affect". Social Behavior and Personality. 35 (1): 135–142. doi:10.2224/sbp.2007.35.1.135.
  13. ^ Smith, Justin E. H. (2015). Nature, Human Nature, and Human Difference: Race in Early Modern Philosophy. Princeton University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4008-6631-1.
  14. ^ Trương, Thanh-Đạm (2013). Migration, Gender and Social Justice: Perspectives on Human Insecurity. Springer. pp. 3–26. ISBN 978-3-642-28012-2.
  15. ^ Teklu, Abebe Abay (2010). "We Cannot Clap with One Hand: Global Socio–Political Differences in Social Support for People with Visual Impairment". International Journal of Ethiopian Studies. 5 (1): 93–105.
  16. ^ J. Zajda, S. Majhanovich, V. Rust, Education and Social Justice, 2006, ISBN 1-4020-4721-5
  17. ^ Clark, Mary T. (2015). "Augustine on Justice," a Chapter in Augustine and Social Justice. Lexington Books. pp. 3–10. ISBN 978-1-4985-0918-3.
  18. ^ Paine, Thomas. Agrarian Justice. Printed by R. Folwell, for Benjamin Franklin Bache.
  19. ^ Behr, Thomas. Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought (Washington DC: Catholic University of American Press, December 2019).
  20. ^ Luigi Taparelli, SJ, Saggio teoretico di dritto naturale appogiato sul fatto (Palermo: Antonio Muratori, 1840-43), Sections 341-364.
  21. ^ Behr, Thomas. Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought(Washington DC: Catholic University of American Press, December 2019), pp. 149-154.
  22. ^ Rosmini-Serbati, The Constitution under Social Justice. trans. A. Mingardi (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2007).
  23. ^ Pérez-Garzón, Carlos Andrés (14 January 2018). "Unveiling the Meaning of Social Justice in Colombia". Mexican Law Review. 10 (2): 27–66. ISSN 2448-5306. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  24. ^ The Preamble of ILO Constitution
  25. ^ Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Part II, D.