Sunday 28 April 2019

Some Facts About Social Justice

By Peter Allen


Many people have probably heard about concepts of socialism during their university classes or maybe political speeches. Social justice, which is a prevailing concept, is especially mentioned as a platform by a lot of socialist activists when it comes to political change and wealth distribution. To give one a better idea of this concept, here is a broad explanation of what this concept is.

In a nutshell, this principle circles around the principle of equality. This socialist concept simply means that all people in a society must have equal access to basic rights that allow people to have opportunities, healthcare, and justice under the law. This also means that any form of prejudice or bias against anyone due to their being part of certain minority group is forbidden.

Now, this kind of socialist concept does not have any affiliation to a specific movement or party. However, it is a concept that is associated with the leftist movements specifically the Democratic party in the US or the socialist party. However, there are other socialists who do not identify or embrace the ideologies of the Democrats but rather have their own brand of socialist ideology.

Although this concept has been branded with an extremist type of perspective because of its use by the Marxists and communists, the whole principle of the concept is generally for the benefit of society. While these movements brought the concept to a more radical definition and enforced it by fear, it has different meanings today. In fact, most ideologies, even in a democratic society, has at least one element of this principle.

This brand of justice today is more associated with human rights which is very much fought for by a lot of groups. Human rights generally encompasses the principle that all humans have equal rights to certain privileges under the law. As mentioned, these rights should not be given out of prejudice due to racial background or affiliation with groups.

One very crucial example would be in the criminal justice system, especially in America. There is a high case of racism in the criminal system wherein black and Latino individuals are often given stricter and unjust treatment as compared to white men. This in itself creates bias simply because of race or ethnic group.

Another example would be that of the healthcare system. If one would follow this socialist concept, universal healthcare is supposedly a human right because it involves giving the best treatment for the overall well being of citizens. Following this concept, healthcare is not to be seen as a privilege that is only to be enjoyed by the rich because that would mean it is discrimination against certain social classes.

The first thing that one has to keep in mind would be equality because that is what it centers upon. While the whole idea behind the concept is a great one that is beneficial to society, implementation of reforms can be a big problem because each group has their own definition of the term. It is because of its broad definition that are some disputes between socialist groups advocating for change.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment