SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE BRITISH SOCIETY

Social Justice in the British Society

Social Justice in the British Society

Introduction

Social justice is a rather indistinct term that can mean different things to different people. Commonly, social justice is a policy-making theory that tries to ensure that all members of society are treated fairly and that all have the same opportunities to partake of and share in the benefits of society. For some, this may mean an end to discrimination based on race, creed, ethnicity, income, or sex. Others might favor economic justice that seeks to provide equality through fair taxation and the distribution of wealth, resources, and property. Still others might insist that social justice promotes equal access to education and job placement. Many social justice advocates believe that the term can encompass all this and more. Considering some philosophical and religious views, this paper discusses if contemporary British society is socially just or not.

Discussion

Often the concept of social justice arises not as a forward-thinking measure brought up in Utopian visions of the planet as it may be, but as a defensive stance that rallies critics of current disparities that plague a global society seemingly divided into haves and have-nots. For example, various pro-environment, pro-equality political organizations that band together under the name of the Green Party base their activism on a credo known as the Four Pillars, one of which is the pursuit of social justice. The Irish Green Party avers that it is against "control of industry by large multinational and national businesses" with "the exploitation of the third world." Thus, these organizations view social justice as a policy worth following if present-day society is to be more equitable. (Strange 1996, 36-38)

According to 4NI, a leading think tank, contemporary UK society is still far away from becoming a just and fair society. In its assessment of social injustice in UK over the last ten years, the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) discovered that females are still more likely to survive in poor life, while the proportion of assets seized by the 10 percent wealthiest individuals of the British residents had enlarged from 47 percent to 54 percent . The last ten years have noticed more capital focused in the possession of wealthiest individuals of the UK. Institute for Public Policy Research noticed that even now, ethnicity and social class greatly affect chances for persons in their private life and work. Elected sharing is also dropping and political power is polarising in relation to wealth and class. (www.4ni.co.uk)

As currently applied the idea seems to be this. Consider a state or system of laws; this identifies a society and ultimately determines, through those laws, the distribution of distributable benefits within it. We can then ask, which system of laws would achieve an equitable distribution of benefits? And that seems like a reasonable application of the concept of distributive justice. (Acorn 2005, 69)

Some people object, however, that until something is produced, there are no benefits to distribute, and the very fact ...