Social justice is a concept that is simultaneously concrete and amorphous. Pinning it down accurately is quite the challenge because it is as much an ideal as it is a number of tangible actions.
Here are 5 basic ideas of social justice to shed light on the motivations of social justice.
Everyone Deserves To Have Their Basic Needs Met
This is a basic concept that, interestingly enough, requires special attention in society. There are many groups that, for one reason or another, do not have their basic needs met. Food, shelter, clean water, and the like are bare necessities that all people should have access to but not all do. Social justice declares that everyone deserves to have their basic needs met.
Everyone Deserves Equal Opportunities
Going beyond the most basic needs, everyone deserves equal opportunities in life. It is no secret that different groups can expect more favorable welcomes when it comes to certain types of opportunities and other groups can expect to encounter opposition even when they attempt to secure their most basic rights to do what others can do without a second thought. These opportunities may be employment opportunities or other opportunities like educational ones. Social justice demands that all people have the same opportunities. Anything less is a social injustice.
Everyone Deserves Equal Protections
Social justice goes on to say that all people deserve equal protections. Some groups are unable to defend themselves adequately so measures must be taken to see that these individuals are protected. Children are an excellent example of this idea of social justice. Children deserve to be protected but they are often helpless in the face of their caretakers who may be abusive, neglectful, or who may not properly care for all of a child’s physical and emotional needs in other ways.
Personal Responsibility To Grow
Social justice also focuses on the personal responsibility that all people have to grow. The understanding of social injustices that people in general have increases over time and everyone has a responsibility to realize where some groups are not being treated equally and to take steps to correct these wrongs. Not everyone is going to become a crusader for the rights of various groups of individuals but everyone can do their part by voting in favor of equal rights for all individuals when these issues are brought up and by correcting their own beliefs that may see any one group as better than another.
Everyone Deserves Equal Rights
Social justice is the idea that everyone gets equal rights. These equal rights are deserved regardless of anyone’s gender, religion, race, or sexual orientation. To give any group fewer rights than another is to create a group of second class citizens and to create a society where equality does not exist.
These are 5 basic ideas of social justice. They seem like basic ideas that all people would embrace and fight for relentlessly but old belief systems sometimes seem right even when they are not right but only familiar. Anyone who would want to ensure that they always have equal rights should make sure that every other group has equal rights too.
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