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Chapter 7- Distribution: Territorial Social Justice (Smith 2000) (The…
Chapter 7- Distribution: Territorial Social Justice (Smith 2000)
Social justice focus on distribution in geographically space, among territorial defined populations
Distribution and difference
Prioritising the prospects of the least advantaged- Rawls 1971
Difference as a source of inequality and of solidarity against injustice
Who stands in the space of difference, the politics of difference so that the 'we' is a source of social unity, as a community or nation but potentially including all of mankind
Erosion of the sense of human sameness, or close similarity, underpinning the ideal of moral equality crucial to a just society
Some of the greatest struggles for social justice in recent history were more a case of the universalising notion of equal moral worth countering particular social constructions of difference
Plurality of theories which are equally plausible in finding the question of the most socially just theory of social justice
Unease about inequality that traditionally motivated concern for social justice, being side-lined in the politics of these post-socialist times
Social justice as equalisation
The place of good fortune
The place of good fortune in position in social structure, and geographically
Some people are simply luckier than others, morality transcends luck, mobilising power and opportunity and compensating for misfortune
Rawls 1971- 'natural liberties', equal opportunities in the sense of legal rights, however no attempt to promote equality in background social conditions
Fair equality of opportunity- regardless of their initial place in the social system. Democratic equality, however no one can be said to deserve anything, because no one posessing anything
The distribution of resources across the world is entirely fortuitous, created by humankind, in schools for example
The chance of birth in a particular place carries no greater moral credit than being born rich etc. Initial advantage travelled to future generations
Enormous conceptual and technical difficulties in sustaining particular cuts between circumstances for which persons cannot be held responsible
Sandel- no group anywhere deserves anything
Unanswered the possible injustice of initial acquisitions and the moral arbitrariness of the good fortune of inheriting favourable conditions for sustaining a good life
Human sameness, needs and rights
Strong case for equality, narrowing the gaps which have arisen from morally arbitrary factors
Question of equality of what?
What people require is more or less the same, whoever and whatever they are
Kant- Born equal, notion of moral equality , based on mutual recognition of sameness
To combat exploitation means to implicate ideas of humanity as necessarily universal. Disparate groups come together to fight for social justice, political solidarity built across different places
Universalist argument that all humans have the same basic human needs, subject to interpretation
However, more to live than physical survival or even longevity
Justice requires a societal commitment to meeting the basic needs of all persons . Everyone has similar needs that must be met before any sort of worthwhile life can be lived , should have them by right
Universal welfare rights remain a fragile basis for social justice in practice
Social justice
Powerful arguments for inequality cite social or territorial injustice
All contemporary theories of a just society have the same foundation: equality
Rawls- difference principle. Social and economic inequalities are arranged so they are the greatest benefit of the least advantaged
What priority should be given to equalisation of sources of human need satisfaction
Universality and particularity
Contextuality of the very notion of social justice
The question of the best social world became largely a matter of the just distribution
Rectification of injustice via redistribution becoming conceivable as a moral project, thanks to the changing scope of political power