Module 7: James Ramos

Module 7: Social Justice
According to the article, “Defining Social Justice,” by Michael Novak, the trouble with the term social justice is that no one has been able to provide a clear-cut or
ambiguous definition to it. In fact, countless books have been written about “social justice” without ever giving it a real meaning. Social justice is the virtue which guides us in creating those organized human interactions that we like to call institutions. In turn, justly organized social institutions provide us with access with what is good for the person, both individually and in his associations with others. Additionally, social justice imposes on each individual a personal responsibility to work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development.

The origin of the concept of social justice concurred with two other shifts in human conciousness--the “death of God” and the rise of the ideal of the command economy. The “death of God” was when people began to believe in constructing a just social order and its “divinization of reason” found its extension in the command economy, which stated that “reason would command and humankind would collectively follow.” Should this line of reasoning be followed, then social justice would have its natural end in a command economy and its function would be to keep the individual from being held responsible for the relative position that he was holding. Instead, social justice would work to blame someone else--such as the system or whoever was in control--rather than the victim.

The virtue of social justice is considered ideologically neutral as it is as ““open to people on the left as it is to people on the right or in the center.” Social justice allows for people of good will to reach different and even opposing practical judgments about the material content of the common good and how to get there. Individuals may not ignore or neglect the virtue of social justice because many moral consequences would ensue and disarray would transpire.

Contradictory to social justice is the idea of social injustice. Social injustice is defined as a situation in which not all people within a society have equal access to the facilities, services or systems within that society. Social injustice may occur due to reasons such as poverty, which can mean that people are marginalized and therefore have minimal say and influence on decisions which form and shape their lives. Another reason why social injustice might occur is because of political systems that may treat some people less fairly then others due to their ethnicity, gender, or religion.

In addition to poverty and corrupt political systems, forms of social injustice such as racism are critical factors in creating and maintaining disparities in a society. For example, the history of a given racial group can be a powerful determinant of the current socioeconomic status of that group. To correct social injustice, I suggest that people see, value, and behave as if there is no such thing as race or class. Too many people today regard race and class as great determining factors of socioeconomic status, when really, it isn’t. Racial profiling is a part of social injustice as it aims to classify people into groups according to their race. Too many a time have occurrences such as those involving cab drivers bypassing certain passengers and policemen searching people with no probable cause happened that we need to put a stop to it--and fast. False assumptions based on views regarding race have had overwhelming effects on the unequal treatment of different racial classes and its time we put an end to it.

In the face of social injustice, one must be willing to step forward and say such things as, “No! you don’t have the right to do that to me because I’m black/hispanic/etc…”. One must be willing to stand up for himself and not allow anyone to push him around if he wants to stop social injustice. Way too many people are scared of the consequences that may ensue should they decide to speak out, and for that reason, their ability to push through the barrier of social injustice is hindered. We must remember that it takes only one person to step forward and speak his opinion, in order to trigger hundreds of others to muster the courage to do so too, and that is how we would be able to take a step towards beating social injustice.

I personally think that it is possible to commit an unjust act in order to come up with a just result. This is because I think that sometimes people have to push the law and break a few rules in order to get their voices heard by people who would otherwise choose to ignore them because of their skin color or simply because of their class and socioeconomic status. It is imperative that we not be afraid to challenge people who are much higher up on the socioeconomic ladder than we are because no matter how poor or poverty stricken you may be, you have the right to get your voice and your opinions heard by people in your community. Therefore, should one feel that he has to commit an unjust act in order to be recognized and get his point across, then I say, so be it, let him do what he has to do for the common good of his people.