Social Justice In Close Relationships

Every author interprets and define social equity a little differently. Social equity issues, refers to the distribution of fairness. (Guy & McCandless, 2012). Social equity is rooted in the idea that each person is equal and has inalienable rights. With America’s being a blend of social, religious, economic, and political characteristics, the

Rather, Equity, and the sense of fairness which commonly underpins motivation, is dependent on the comparison a person makes between his or her reward/investment ratio with the ratio enjoyed (or suffered) by others considered to be in a similar situation”(Balancing Employee Inputs and Outputs).

Although different societies have varying perceptions of what is an acceptable level of equity, it is generally accepted that inequality has an impact on key social determinants such as health, wellbeing, political trust and violence. Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) highlight the social costs of inequality on a whole range of aspects of our lives. Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) argue that if inequality were reduced, there would be significant reductions in mental illness, murder rates, imprisonment and an improvement in social mobility (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009).

Imagine living in a world that consistently devalues your existence and is heavily populated with individuals who are quick to use and abuse your resources, but are slow to share the wealth that is accumulated from those resources. How would you feel? Unfortunately, certain populations do not have to visualize the disparity that is pictured above. This is because inequity is one of the most demoralizing social issues that plague America today. The worst thing about inequity is the fact that it continues to disproportionately burden individuals who are categorize as being minority in today’s society.

In The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movement to Today, Charles Marsh argues that the driving and sustaining force of the Civil Rights Movement and its successors was the Christian faith of its leaders. Throughout the novel, Marsh continuously shows how the Christian faith inspired and sustained leaders and everyday people; risking their lives, their family, and their job in hopes of the type of future that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached on. The Beloved Community tells both hopeful and discouraging stories within the larger history of social justice. Marsh makes clear that this history is still being written by those who take seriously their discipleship to Jesus. Hope, he claims, is the resounding

“Power relationships are shaped by people’s mental biases and beliefs about individuals in other groups” (pg. 108 Social Inequality). Despite the creation of new groups,

Also, it is generally equated with the notion of equality an equal opportunity in society (Robinson, 2010). The theory of Social

While there are several different theories and thoughts on the way human nature simply is, and how that effects our equality amongst each other, the bulk of it falls into two main categories, that is,

Prejudice can be overcome through education, equal status intergroup contact, and working together to achieve a specific goal. For instance, education and learning about people who are different (the out-group) and noticing similarities instead of differences can combat prejudice. Also, equal status contact has been shown to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Equal status contact requires the different groups to all be in the same situation with neither group holding power over the other. In equal status contact, personal involvement with people from another group must be cooperative and occur when all groups are equal in terms of power or status to have a positive effect on reducing prejudice. Also, having people work together to solve a problem because each person has an important key to solving the problem, creating a mutual interdependence, helps reduce prejudice. This technique is called the jigsaw

Throughout relationships, what separates them from healthy and unhealthy is a wide spectrum of uncertainty. Furthermore, not every relationship will be stagnant throughout each person’s lifetime. In this paper, I will be discussing the lengths of my relationship with a good friend of mine, Devon. Furthermore, I can pinpoint some areas in the Power and Control Wheel that may have been of use when we were younger. Also, I see an importance of the Equality wheel and how it relates to our relationship today.

Equity Theory The equity theory is supported by Stafford and Canary in regards to the believe that equitable relationships are more satisfactory. They found the 'lowest marital satisfaction to be in

Relative Deprivation occurs where individuals or groups subjectively perceive themselves as unfairly disadvantaged over others perceived as having similar attributes and deserving similar rewards (their reference groups). This

The notion of justice is existence of proper balance of rights and its access under the laws of land. It refers to not depriving any person from availing privileges, opportunities etc. John Rawls writes, "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override"It means that the interaction in a society must be free from any sort of discrimination such as religion, race, color, caste or sex. It ensures fair distribution of assets and equal opportunity. José P. Laurel defines Social Justice as “Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the state so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated.”

One of notable contributions of social psychology is research on social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010), racism, and prejudice (Ross, Lepper, & Ward, 2010). Within the topic of social justice, themes such as equality, equity, liberty, morality, and others are studied. The surge of academic attention in social justice post World War II partially attributes to the political interest in fighting fascism. Nevertheless, issues that are related social equality are continuing to be relevant today. A challenging aspect of this topic is a lack of consensus among scholars with regards to its definition. Moreover, understandings of social justice require integration of individual, group, and system level insights. Holding a balance between subjective and objective experiences with respect to what construed as just is essential. Understandings gained from research would assist researchers to identify obstacles to fair community including selfishness, laziness, human tendency to dehumanize perceived enemies, and common social misconceptions. Research results can assist the public to encourage dialogues integral to social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010).

“When he is in a co-operative and benevolent relation with woman, his theme is the principle of abstract equality, and he does not base his attitude upon such –inequality as it may exist. But when he is in conflict with her, the situation is reversed: his theme will be the existing inequality, and he will even take it as justification for denying abstract equality.” This quote reminded me of a term I learned in social psychology class called realistic group conflict theory. This theory proposes that intergroup conflict emerges when groups find themselves competing for the same resources. This competition not only increases the individual’s feelings of solidarity toward their own group but also they lead people to develop negative attitudes