Social Justice Is Equal And Full Participation Of All Members Of A Society

Explain how the notion of social harm is connected with ideas of social justice. Support your answer with evidence from two study weeks in Block 2, including at least one chapter from Book 1. This essay aims to explain social harm and its connections to social justice. The concept of social harm is difficult to define, Social harm occurs when problems not only affect an individual but for cause harm to society as a whole.

Even with the gains from Reconstruction, African Americans continued to struggle because they could not easily be economically independent. There were limited opportunities for paid labor and they were subjected to racial segregation and slave codes as well as sexual violence from white men, especially their employers.1 Freedpeople’s economic independence was undermined when assailants seized their land, stole their means of support, burned their homes, wrecked their possessions, and denied them access to land. This limited the ability for African American men to work and support their families.10 Violent gangs regulated and coerced black farm laborers. Many African Americans worked for their former masters in conditions that were slave-like, meaning harsh, brutal work, and long hours. Since white men had to be the employers, they set low wages and forced all blacks including men, women, and children to be laborers.18

Social justice is a significant topic known all too well in today's society. The topic can be defined as promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity. It exists when all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources. People sometimes say that justice is when bad guys get punished, the good guys get rewarded and that everyone gets a fair go. However, what transpires when society itself is the 'bad guy'?

The dilemma facing African Americans during the first few decades after emancipation was profound. The post Civil War-Reconstruction era in the South was one where African Americans had political voting rights, members of Congress, and a vision for the future that would extend the principles of democratic government to all black people. Quickly though, it changed to a situation that was akin to slavery itself. With the removal of the Federal forces in the South following Reconstruction, the gains that were made eroded both political power and the civil rights of African Americans. Economically, millions of poor southern blacks were trapped in the sharecropping system structured to ensure that they provided cheap agriculture labor for the benefit of white landlords. Throughout the South, with the institution of the Jim Crow laws, blacks began to be excluded from all public accommodations, denied access to schools and other essential services, and restricted from living in certain residential areas. Essential to the racist assault against black people’s rights was lynching, fear and death.

Social justice is the view from a person’s mind that everything and everybody is equal no matter the gender, race, social group, or religion. One of the biggest problems in the world, especially in the US, is child poverty. One third of United State’s children live with under thirty one thousand dollars a year which is below the sixty percent of the national median income. This alters their hope for their future as adults, it affects their learning, and impacts their health and safety.

"Social justice is what faces you in the morning. It is awakening in a house with adequate water supply, cooking facilities and sanitation. It is the ability to nourish your children and send them to school where their education not only equips them for employment but reinforces their knowledge and understanding of their cultural inheritance. It is the prospect of genuine employment and good health: a life of choices and opportunity, free from discrimination" (Dodson, 1993).

Social justice is the distribution of difference in society and is based on equality and its opportunity.

Social injustice creates conditions that adversely affect the health of individuals and their communities (Levy, 2006). All individuals should have equal opportunity to meet their basic needs. Levy defines social injustice as the denial or violation of economic, sociocultural, political, civil, or human rights of specific populations or groups in society based on the perception of their inferiority by those with more power or influence. These groups are often negatively stereotyped and struggle to live their lives against opposition from those with influence over them. Social injustice must be addressed to prevent the further mistreatment of individuals who are not being treated equally in the population.

The term social justice is normally used when referring to the ideas of equality and providing equal opportunities to pupils within school, regardless of their background, history or circumstances. Views of social justice can change depending on who is discussing the topic.

Social justice is that status of the society where “equity” and “just treatment” of individuals exists. It is not limited to safeguarding the rights but also comes with responsibility to maintain a “society for all” providing equal opportunities. A socially just society can be achieved after examining the inequalities and seeking opportunity to curb the same by total elimination. The concept of social justice varies with the different philosophical approaches about the distribution or allocation of resources.

“Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained.” As Helen Keller once stated, social justice is unable to be retrieved unless everyone is held accountable for how they treat others. Social injustice is the improper treatment of individuals due to race, gender, sexual orientation, or age. One is unable to control these characteristics; however, they are treated with prejudice just for this logic. In emphasis, many people are subjected to hate crimes and enmity from others, all for traits that one cannot alter.

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).

To define social justice is like trying to find a needle in a stack of hay. It comprises so many issues, it's difficult to come up with a simple answer. It's one of those head scratching questions that make you pause and think. After thinking about it for a while, I realized how complex it is.

Social justice helps us in creating human interactions in society and social institutions. These institutions can provide us with what is good for the person and for our associations with others. This happens so long as our institutions are

Social sciences and social justice are both based on the structure of rights. Our rights were designed to create equality for all. However, there are always outliers in our justice system and these outliers can be seen by all. My background and demographic are aggressively average growing up in a small, rural community with little diversity which has affected my views about justice. The class Social Problems and Social Injustice has aggressively opened my eyes to new statistics about society and has made some of my intuitions validated and destroyed some of my prior views. My new understanding of social justice is that is was created for all by excluding some. Justice is the structure of our institutions and society.