Page 1 of 9
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e‐ISSN: 2395‐0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ Page | 658
The Idea of Social Justice
Dr. Arvinder Singh
Head, Department of Political Science, Ramgarhia College, Phagwara (Punjab)
Email: arvindersinghbhalla@gmail.com
Abstract
Social justice is the essential virtue of
the civilized society. It lays down the
foundation of liberal, egalitarian and
democratic socio-political and
economic order. It seeks to promote
societal conditions in which all people,
equal in dignity, enjoy proportionally
equal access to participation in the
social, economic, cultural, civil and
political life of society. It emanates
from the people’s will to have a
harmonious and equitable social life.
Social discriminations, gender
inequalities, economic exploitation and
violation of human rights and human
dignity go against the spirit of the
social justice. Social justice
presupposes the elimination of class
and caste based discriminations,
promotion of social solidarity and
protection of human dignity and
interests of weaker sections of society.
Introductory Background:
Social justice is one of the
innermost norms of the present day
liberal democratic and welfare states.
The ideal of social justice is the basic
constituent of liberal democratic
structure of the society. It is the most
tangible, the most easily identifiable
and a cardinal attribute of democracy.
Democracy is both intrinsically and
instrumentally valuable and a basic
prerequisite for the creation of
egalitarian society. Democratic
governments concern with the well
being of people and the elimination of
social injustice. Democracy cannot
sustain without social justice.
The degree of social justice increases
with an increasing degree of
democratization of political system.
Democratic political regimes promote
the cause of social justice on their
political agenda more swiftly and
Page 2 of 9
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e‐ISSN: 2395‐0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ Page | 659
realize the ideal of social justice more
effectively than autocratic regimes. 1
Social justice and egalitarian social
order together are guiding principles
and objectives of welfare state.
Dispersion of social justice to citizens
is the first and foremost aim of the
government. Democratic governments
are aimed at to formulate policies,
which produce social justice and tend
to remove the social discriminations at
all levels. Social injustice reflects the
inequitable social order, inefficient and
maladministration, and lack of will
power and capacity of government to
provide social justice to people. The
modern state’s reason for being and its
legitimacy are to a large extent based
on the just and equitable distribution or
redistribution of the burdens, demands
and benefits in society.
Social justice is a subcategory
of the wider term justice. It refers to the
fair and equitable distribution of valued
goods and necessary burdens. Such
distributions can take place at all levels
of societal aggregation: at the micro
level of face-to-face interaction, at the
meso (middle range) level of
intermediate institutions and
organizations, and at the macro level
of a society's basic structure. The
ways in which these various levels
provide (or deny) access to social
positions, in which they regulate the
allocation of rights and duties as well
as of scarce goods and necessary
burdens, and in which they interact
through an encompassing framework
of institutionalized rules and
procedures, form the subject of social
justice.2 Social justice is, in
fact, a logical corollary of democratic
ideals like liberty, equality, fraternity
and justice. These democratic ideals
are the foundation stone of just and
equitable social order.
Page 3 of 9
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e‐ISSN: 2395‐0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ Page | 660
Social justice is grounded in the
principles of justice. In general,
the application of justice aims at giving
each person what is due, and implies
that members of community or society
are concerned with equality, rights of
all. Social justice can involve
substantive, retributive, corrective,
commutative and distributive forms of
justice, and although social justice as a
term is fairly recent in origin.3 It was
initially an extension of the existing,
traditional idea of justice into a new
area, that of society as a whole, so
that it did not require developing any
content new to the idea, but just new
conditions for its application.4 Social
justice means that all community
members have an equal chance to
attain a similar quality of life, measured
in terms of physical and mental
emotional well being. In a socially just
setting, everyone has equal access to
the resources necessary for this
quality of life, regardless of race,
ethnicity, gender, class, socio- economic status, etc. It does not
necessarily translate into all
community members being wealthy,
highly educated, happy or even
healthy, rather it means that the ability
to access resources and thus attain
these ‘conditions’ are equal across
community members.5
Social justice aims at the
creation of a just and harmonious
society, where ‘justice’ refers to not
only the just governance of laws but
also sustainability of societal
development. It is based on the idea of
a society, which provides fair treatment
to individuals and groups and a just
sharing of the societal benefits
mutually acceptable to a majority.6 It is
concerned not in narrow focus of what
is just for the individual alone, but what
is just for the social whole.7 The great
mark of social justice is that it cannot
