Social Justice Definition
Social Justice is a common term used all over the world today and people are fighting for it vigorously. The question is, what exactly does it mean? Imagine a situation in which you have been selected for designing a new society. You and the authorities have designed some laws for the citizens to follow in order to assure the rights of individuals. You have developed healthcare facilities, churches and schools for the citizens of that society. Now one group stands up and limits the access of another group for a few days without any genuine reason. This activity will be considered against the law and people will call it social injustice. On the other hand, when you lift those limitations, the facilities are available to each citizen equally, it will be called social justice. In short, people will have their basic human rights and dignity assured. Their basic economic needs will be met without any discrimination.
Social Justice Issues
The list of social justice issuess today is huge and these issues are found throughout the world despite the existence of human rights.
Health: Making healthcare affordable is a major concern. The uncontrolled costs of private healthcare facilities can largely impact the healthcare conditions. These institutions are responsible for providing equal care to all citizens whether they are employed or not. The broken hospitals need to be fixed, nurses should be provided with improved training, and the healthcare equipment should be high in quality as well.
Shelter: Poor people often feel as if they are human waste because they don’t have any shelter to live under. In many parts of the world, poor are living on roads and slumps and they have no other place to go. New settlements must be built for these poor individuals to improve the quality of life.
Education: In many developing countries, provision of education is a concern that needs to be addressed. There are such schools too that don’t have chairs, desks and even toilet facilities. Students have to deal with poorly qualified and lazy teachers who don’t take their jobs seriously. Better educational facilities are needed for the less developed countries of the world.
Food and Security: There are many parts of the world where people do not have access to clean water. Some are dying of starvation while others are dying to malnutrition. The cost of food is either high or they don’t have access to high quality food. Innovative programs have to be deployed for making the supply of healthy food accessible and affordable.
Other issues include ageism, racism, rights of the disabled people, women and children, corporate accountability, water and sanitation and a lot more.
Example of Social Justice
Social Justice Issues Today need to be addressed in a wise way. For example, in case a society is being developed, it must have fair distribution of resources. Every individual should have equal access to rights and opportunities. They must have the ability to take up different opportunities and exercise their rights. They must have protection from the vulnerable people and a fair system of law should be there in the society.
Many individuals even in the developed countries are sometimes treated irrationally and they get caught in social injustice. Rules and regulations exist but they are hardly implemented everywhere. It can be said that although the world has progressed a lot but justice is not as what it used to be. The essence of achieving the common welfare of the society is missing. There is always someone whose rights have been violated and these victims are commonly the poor or less influential people who cannot do anything about the injustice happened.
