What is social justice, anyway?

Social justice is the movement towards eliminating oppression and ultimately achieving equality in the distribution of goods and wealth among all groups in a society. Oppression involves¹:

• Exploitation: unfair labor practices that benefit management at the expense of workers
• Marginalization: groups pushed out of society who then struggle to earn a living
• Powerlessness: lack of social authority and power
• Cultural imperialism: using a dominant group’s experience as the norm for all other groups
• Violence: when one person or group makes another submit to their acts of force
  
  

Social justice is important everywhere, especially in developing countries. It has been shown that through corruption and discrimination some people gain unequal benefits from large-scale government programs.² In order to build better futures for everyone, we should remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.³

Who is involved?

Ordinary people can make a difference, by joining groups that put pressure on the government and others with power to change policies in favor of social justice and equity.⁴ When people or organizations come together in large informal groupings focused on specific political or social issues, they create social movements.

One example of a social movement is Free Tibet,  which would like to see Tibet independent from China’s control.

Another example of a social movement is the Rainforest Action Network, which advocates for a sustainable world through education and direct action to transform the global marketplace. The goal is to leave a safe and secure world for future generations.

Unions are a more organized political force than a social movement; in a union, workers choose to come together to negotiate with their employer or the government for just and equitable working conditions and compensation.  An example of a large union in the United Kingdom is the Trades Union Congress, which represents over 6.5 million people.

A Workers Party rally in Singapore.

Where are consequences felt?

Income inequality, that is, the differences in household income inside a country, is one way to measure social justice.

In the years 1990 to 2000, over 70% of countries experienced an increase in their level of income inequality. Some of the countries with the highest overall income disparities include: Zambia, Brazil, Lesotho, and Bolivia. Below are two pictures of life in Brazil, where one in every three people lives below the poverty line.⁵

Slum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Some countries with the lowest overall income disparities and the most equitable distribution of wealth are: Denmark, the Czech Republic, Belarus, and Yemen.⁶ This map provides more information about wealth distribution in countries all over the world, by clicking on “Indicators”, then “Gini coefficients”.

In addition to income disparities within countries, there are international imbalances in social justice. One example is sweatshops, where workers in developing countries are paid very low or no wages in order to make toys, clothes, and other items for sale in developed countries. For example, out of the $38 charged for a hooded university-branded sweatshirt, workers received a mere $0.18, while the university received $2.24 in licensing fees. All in all, the factory had a profit of $0.70, the material distributor had a profit of $1.75, and the seller had a profit of $4.50.⁷ The very low wages of these workers mean that they usually cannot afford necessities like food, water, and quality healthcare.

Why is social justice important?

A just world in which all people could share in prosperity would alleviate many of the chronic problems that we as a global community face: disease, hunger, conflict over resources, and environmental degradation. By working together and demanding change in our institutions, such as governments and corporations, we can strive for social justice.

Citations

¹ https://mrdevin.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/five-faces-of-oppression.pdf

² http://economics.usf.edu/pdf/corruption.growth.inequality.africa.econgov.02.pdf

³ http://www.un.org/en/events/socialjusticeday/index.shtml

⁴ http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/ifsd/SocialJustice.pdf, page 6

⁵ http://internationalbusiness.wikia.com/wiki/Brazil's_Income_Distribution

⁶ http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/world08.pdf, pages 11 and 12

⁷ http://www.teamsweat.org/?p=891