Social Justice
What is Justice?
1. Cultural Interpretations: Various cultures and traditions have different views on justice.
2. Ancient Indian Society: Justice was linked to dharma (righteousness) and considered a king's primary duty to maintain a just social order.
3. Chinese Philosophy: Confucius emphasized the role of kings in maintaining justice by punishing wrongdoers and rewarding the virtuous.
4. Greek Influence: Plato, in The Republic, discussed justice in fourth-century B.C. Athens, contributing to our understanding of the concept.
5. Modern Perspective: Justice is seen as giving each person their due, a principle that remains relevant today.
6. Immanuel Kant's View: Kant argued that all individuals possess dignity and deserve the opportunity to develop their talents and pursue their goals.
7. Equality and Consideration: Justice requires that we treat all individuals with due and equal consideration.
Equal Treatment for Equals
Principle of Treating Equals Equally
1. Basis of Equality: All individuals share fundamental human characteristics, entitling them to equal rights and treatment.
2. Rights in Liberal Democracies:
- Civil Rights: Include rights to life, liberty, and property.
- Political Rights: Such as the right to vote, enabling participation in political processes.
- Social Rights: Ensure equal opportunities in society.
3. Non-Discrimination Principle: Requires that people should not face discrimination based on class, caste, race, or gender.
Proportionate
Principles of Justice Beyond Equal Treatment
1. Justice Complexity: Equal treatment isn't the sole principle of justice.
2. Contextual Justice: Circumstances may arise where equal treatment seems unjust.
3. Reward Proportionality: Justice can mean rewarding individuals based on their effort's scale and quality, starting from an equal rights baseline.
4. Fair Reward: Differentiating rewards based on factors like effort, skill, and risks involved can be fair and just.
5. Balancing Principles: Achieving justice in society requires balancing equal treatment with proportionality.
Recognition of Special Needs
Principle of Special Needs Consideration
1. Inclusive Justice: Society should factor in special needs when distributing rewards or duties.
2. Extension of Equal Treatment: This principle extends, rather than contradicts, equal treatment, as it acknowledges that treating equals equally might require treating unequal individuals differently.
3. Special Assistance: Individuals with special needs, like disabilities, may require special help due to their inequality in certain aspects.
4. Examples of Special Needs: Factors such as physical disabilities, age, or lack of access to education or healthcare are often considered grounds for special treatment in many societies.
Reservation Policy in India
Constitutional Provisions: India's Constitution allows reservations in government jobs and educational institutions for Scheduled Castes and Tribes due to caste-based social discrimination.
Justice Principles Influence Policy: Various groups in India may support different policies based on their emphasis on different principles of justice.
Just Distribution
Social Justice and Redistribution
1. Fair Distribution: Social justice involves fairly distributing goods and services, both within nations and among different groups and individuals.
2. Addressing Inequality: In societies with significant economic or social inequalities, redistribution of resources may be necessary to ensure a level playing field for all citizens.
3. Equality of Life Conditions: Social justice requires not only equal treatment under laws and policies but also basic equality in life conditions and opportunities within a country.
4. Controversial Issues: Disagreements on resource distribution, access to education, and job opportunities can lead to strong societal divisions and sometimes violence.
5. Philosophical Perspective: John Rawls argued for the rational justification of providing assistance to the least privileged members of society.
John Rawls: theory of Justice
1. Fair Decision Making: Rawls suggests that to establish fair rules, we should imagine ourselves making decisions about society without knowing our own position in it.
2. The Veil of Ignorance: This concept involves deciding on societal rules without knowledge of our own status, ensuring impartiality.
3. Self-Interest Consideration: Despite self-interest, Rawls believes people would choose rules that benefit the worst-off, as they could end up in that position.
4. Disadvantaged Sections: However, this approach may not fully address the needs of those born into disadvantaged sections of society.
Challenges and Merits of Rawls' Approach
1. Difficulty of Erasing Identity: It's challenging to imagine ourselves without our identities and biases, as required by the 'veil of ignorance.'
2. Self-Interest vs. Altruism: People find it hard to share their good fortune with strangers, despite the rationality of such actions.
3. Rational Decision Making: Rawls believes that the 'veil of ignorance' encourages people to make rational decisions in their self-interest, leading to fairer outcomes.
4. Rationality Over Morality: According to Rawls, rational thinking, rather than morality, can guide us to be fair and impartial in distributing the benefits and burdens of society.
Pursuing Social Justice
Social Justice and Inequality
1. Indicators of Social Injustice: Societal divisions based on wealth, property, and power indicate a lack of social justice.
2. Not Absolute Equality: Justice doesn't demand complete equality in lifestyles.
3. Calculating Basic Needs: Governments and international bodies like WHO have devised methods to determine people's basic needs.
4. Government Responsibility: Democratic governments are expected to provide basic needs to citizens, but this can be challenging, especially in countries like India with a large poor population.
5. Debates in India: Different political groups in India support various approaches to help marginalized sections like the rural and urban poor, debating the effectiveness of different schemes.
Free Markets versus State Intervention
1. Free Market Supporters' View: They believe that unregulated markets would naturally result in a just distribution of benefits and duties in society.
2. Evolution of Views: Many free market supporters today are open to some regulations, such as ensuring a basic standard of living for all to enable equal competition.
3. Advantages of Market Distribution: Market distribution is favored for providing more choices to individuals.
4. Superior Services: Free markets and private enterprise are often praised for providing high-quality services compared to government institutions. However, the cost may be prohibitive for the poor.
5. Privileged Bias: Free markets tend to favor the already privileged, despite arguments on both sides of the debate.
3. Role in Democracy: Disagreements on distribution and justice are normal in a democratic society, leading to healthy debates and the examination of various viewpoints.
4. Political Negotiation: Politics involves negotiating such disagreements through debate.
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