Social Justice

Abstract

Social justice is a central obligation of civil society where the measure of the ethical integrity of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. Rawls' (1971) theory of justice as fairness in the context of political liberalism has been influential in modern western capitalist societies. Rawlsian justice is based on the principle that free and rational people accept the rightness of equality for all members of society as the basis for all other agreements, social cooperation, and forms of government. It presumes that justice will be achieved by a redistribution of societal resources to ensure fairness for all. Feminist scholars have criticized his theory for not giving sufficient regard to emotions in his rational ethic of justice and for not asking the questionfairness for whom? Despite the universalist, modernist undertones of his ideas, Rawls argues for international justice for all types of societies. International justice is needed to ensure minimum standards of including people in political decisions and protecting human rights. Rawls explains that justice must not be only a nation-bound concern or the reserve of liberal societies. He extends justice to include the notion of the law of peoples which all decent peoples will uphold, and this includes not being imperialistic or aggressive toward other people.