Social Injustice

The concept of "social justice" was propounded by Luigi Taparelli in the year 1840. He was greatly influenced by the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas when he coined this concept. Social justice, as the name suggests, implies a society where everybody gets justice. A society where everyone is treated equally, where discrimination is non-existent. Let us try to understand what is social justice as well as social injustice, with the help of certain examples.

Social Justice and Social Injustice

A socially just society is the one where gender, class, caste, religion, status and all other divisions created by man, do not exist and everyone has excess to basic human rights. And even if some divisions do exist at certain levels, people have equal opportunities as others to improve their lot. In a socially just society, there is equal distribution of wealth and property. Everyone's basic human and economic needs are met. A socially just society guarantees physical and psychological safety to its members. So looking at the kind of ideals which a socially just society promotes, in today's world, it is considered a utopia. And the reality? Social Injustice.

If you look around you will find injustice issues in every society and country. There is no community which has been spared of them. Here are some commonly observed social injustice examples.

• The division between the rich and the poor exist in all societies. Poverty being a vicious cycle, people find themselves unable to break away from. Compared to rich people, the poor have lesser opportunities. Many of them are deprived of food, education, house and employment. Their means and resources are limited and most of the time, there is nothing much they can do about it.
• Another example is discrimination on the basis of sex. Women being considered as an inferior sex for centuries now. Compared to men, women own very less property, not only in the developing countries, but the world over. If you look at the corporate America, although women are joining the job force like never before, yet when it comes to top jobs, there's a "glass ceiling" which they cannot seem to cross.
• Racial discrimination wherein people who are black are considered inferior to the whites. There is no basis for this theory, yet racial discrimination is a reality which many African-Americans live with everyday.
• Nowhere is social injustice more obvious than in the case of homosexuals. People openly declare homosexuality to be unnatural and against religion! Denying homosexuals the right to get married and live a life of dignity is nothing but social injustice!

Can Social Injustice be Defeated?

There have always been many solutions suggested to defeat social injustice in society. According to the leftists, if proper laws are framed, welfare programs are introduced for the marginalized and the privileged are taxed so that the taxation money can be used for uplifting the poor, a socially just society can be created. The rightist however are totally against this point of view. According to them, only taxing the rich or the privileged is discrimination in itself and thus is against the very principles of social justice which the leftists are trying to promote through such a taxation. Rightist feel that instead of the measures suggested by leftists, the privileged should be encouraged to undertake social work and philanthropic activities for the underprivileged and the poor. This in itself will create equality and security in society. However, both these solutions, till date, have not found an answer for social injustice.

As can be seen, social injustice is a reality which all societies and countries live with, irrespective of whether they are developed, under-developed or poor. Although, steps are being taken at global as well as national levels to create a socially just society, yet it is still a very distant dream!