Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of boxes, figures and tables
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 The ‘social’ in the age of sustainability
- 2 ‘No such thing as society’? Neoliberalism and the social
- 3 The social question: reconciling social and economic imperatives in policy
- 4 Disputing the economization and the de- politicization of ‘social’ investment in global social policy
- 5 The social dimension of sustainable development at the UN: from Brundtland to the SDGs
- 6 Paradigm lost? Blocking the path to ecosocial welfare and post- productivism
- 7 World population prospects at the UN: our numbers are not our problem?
- 8 Ageing sustainably
- 9 The political challenges to governing global migration and social welfare
- 10 Bringing in ‘the social’: an intersectional analysis of global crises and welfare
- 11 Global social policy and the quasi- concept of social cohesion
- 12 Putting the global in social justice?
- 13 ‘Go- social’? Inclusive growth and global social governance
- 14 For better or worse?
- 15 The struggle for social sustainability
- Index
12 - Putting the global in social justice?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of boxes, figures and tables
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 The ‘social’ in the age of sustainability
- 2 ‘No such thing as society’? Neoliberalism and the social
- 3 The social question: reconciling social and economic imperatives in policy
- 4 Disputing the economization and the de- politicization of ‘social’ investment in global social policy
- 5 The social dimension of sustainable development at the UN: from Brundtland to the SDGs
- 6 Paradigm lost? Blocking the path to ecosocial welfare and post- productivism
- 7 World population prospects at the UN: our numbers are not our problem?
- 8 Ageing sustainably
- 9 The political challenges to governing global migration and social welfare
- 10 Bringing in ‘the social’: an intersectional analysis of global crises and welfare
- 11 Global social policy and the quasi- concept of social cohesion
- 12 Putting the global in social justice?
- 13 ‘Go- social’? Inclusive growth and global social governance
- 14 For better or worse?
- 15 The struggle for social sustainability
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Arguments about the meaning of justice have been central to political philosophy for thousands of years, certainly since the time of key Greek philosophers. The pedigree of the term ‘social justice’ is much shorter, although considerably longer than many believe to be the case. This chapter briefly addresses the question of how and when ‘justice’ morphed into ‘social justice’ and will summarize central elements of current debates about ‘social justice’ in light of the pressing global social policy imperative, reflected in the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to integrate economic, social and environmental needs for a more just and sustainable world.
A major challenge now facing proponents of social justice in an economically globalized world and where most states are increasingly multicultural, is whether what has been an almost exclusively Eurocentric or Anglo-American, not to say Judaeo-Christian, understanding of the meaning of social justice provides a framework which is recognizable in other religious, ethnic and cultural contexts.
If it does, then paradoxically we might now be able to talk about the concept of ‘global social justice’ at a time when racism is increasing across the world and social injustice is increasingly being done by majority communities to minorities.
From justice to social justice
Earliest recorded accounts of the nature of justice come from prominent Greek philosophers. In Plato’s Republic, he sets up a debate between Socrates, his teacher, and Thrasymachus, noted for his sophistry, that is, presenting arguments as truth whilst knowing them to be false. In Thrasymachus’ view, justice has only one principle, which was the interest of the stronger, or, representing the centre of power in most states, the government, whether monarchical, dictatorial or democratic. Plato makes it clear, however, that Socrates thought that justice was an eternal moral concept, challenging the view that ‘might is right’. This concept, referred to as natural law, is distinct from the framework of law established in any nation state. Thus killing someone or enslaving them because the law of the land says you should contravenes the precept of natural law; it is unjust. Law does not necessarily deliver justice.
Plato considered his form of justice would be the ideal antidote to what he identified as the excessive individualism characterizing a corrupt, degenerate Athenian society: this individualism finds global expression today in the so-called ‘free’ market promoted by right-wing political parties.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Struggle for Social SustainabilityMoral Conflicts in Global Social Policy, pp. 237 - 254Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2021