What Do Social Justice And Injustice Look Like

By Sarah Ward


If you are born in today's world financially and socially disadvantaged, upward mobility is a difficult hill to climb. In many areas of this world, the United States included, opportunities for wealth and a life of ease are the prerogative of just a few. This is totally contrary to the concept of social justice, which is the idea that privilege, wealth, and opportunity should be available, equally, for everyone.

This concept did not emerge on the world scene until the mid-nineteenth century. This was the time of the Industrial Revolution and of other civil rebellions occurring throughout Europe. The focus during this period was on property, capital, and the fair distribution of wealth.

In the middle of the twentieth century the idea started to expand. Gender, nationality, race, and environmental equality were included. The concept also expanded from just a governmental responsibility to create an equal society to include personal responsibility for alleviating the unjust conditions suffered by victims all over the world.

The experts break down the issues that prevent a just society into two parts. The first involves how society treats some individuals based entirely on their own personal bias, misinformation, fear, and prejudice. This is the case when people are treated unequally just because they are of a different race, religion, age, social status, ethnicity, or have mental or physical disabilities.

Governments that enact unjust laws and regulations are the other part. When governments, deliberately or not, create certain conditions that have the effect of denying or limiting part of the population from accessing the same opportunities given to other parts of the population they are promoting injustice. Labor laws limiting workers' rights is one example. Another is gerrymandering and requiring voters to product certain identifying documentation in order to vote.

Environmental laws, or the lack thereof, that allow industries to dispose of waste in the lakes and rivers that a community relies on for drinking water is another example of governmental injustice. There are still schools in the United States that do not comply with school segregation laws. There are certain areas of America where people of a certain race or ethnic background are more likely to be pulled over by law enforcement.

Unjust treatment by societies is divided into two categories, the direct and the indirect. Direct inequality comes about when individuals within a society deny rights and opportunities to certain individuals and not to others. An example might be the owner of a public restaurant who refuses to sit individuals in the dining area because of what that owner perceives is their sexual orientation. Direct inequality is also segregating schools and public facilities based on race.

When the government enacts laws that do not directly inhibit the rights of individuals, but in fact do, that is indirect inequality. An example might be laws that restrict mail in voting and require specific voter identification. When you buy clothing manufactured in sweatshops, you are supporting people who victimize laborers.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment