SOCIAL JUSTICE IN BRITAIN

Human Rights and Social Justice

Human Rights and Social Justice

Questions: 1. Consider at least two views of social justice in discussing whether contemporary British society is socially just.

Introduction

Social Justice is when a society promotes fair treatment and values diversity. The existence of social justice is only when people share the same values of equal treatment, have support for their human rights and fair allocation of the resources in the community (Mathew, R., n.d).In situations where social justice exists people are not discriminated for gender, religion or their political affiliation (Toowoomba Education, 2006,ppn.d). Social justice is based on the two notions of equality and equal opportunities for all. For many centuries societies supported the less fortunate members of the society through a relief or the law for poor. This was considered as measures of charity and religious obligation. It was in the twentieth century that it was decided there was a need for justice for those individuals who did not have the right social support (Cook,D., 2006, ppn.d). Thus, the term social justice was coined, which was based on the basic idea of fair distribution of resources and opportunities in a society.

In British society, the idea became a political debate after the World War II, when social services served people from all classes and backgrounds (Wolff, J.,1992, pp173). The ideas presented were greatly supported by the British socialites like Richard Tawney (1931) and George Orwell (2000) who have argued against the class division and selfishness of market societies. Further, these ideas were laid as principles by John Rawls in the Theory of Justice in 1971.

Discussion

Western concept of social justice in 20th century: fair distribution

The socialites of the Western world developed an understanding that the only way to move forward and to help individuals below the poverty line was through fair distribution.

There has been an overall consensus that there should be various ways to achieve social justice where there is fair distribution of societal resources. There are different ideas from scholars regarding fair distribution.

John Rawls

The concept of 'justice is fairness' was presented by Rawls' was far more influential than David Miller or any others that had come after his time. He criticized utilitarianism as it concentrated benefits to privileged classes of society. The two main ideas of the philosopher were that each person had equal rights and basic liberty and secondly social and economic data needs to be arranged so that they benefit to the people who need it and opened avenues of opportunities for them(Rawls, 1971, p. 71). The main concept was that all social values are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution also lays the same advantages. His main focus continued on those that had disadvantages at birth and that there should be a way of compensation for them.

Robert Nozick's View

He opposed the idea presented by Rawls and regarded that the distribution of resources should be just and in accordance with the three principles he presented. They were justice in acquisition, in transfer and ...