Globally, many states, organizations, and individuals have invested a lot of time and resources towards enhancing justice. This had led to the setting up of various policies, laws, theories, and philosophies that would create a just society and ultimately a just state. The efforts geared towards ensuring fair relationship between different members of the society has been immersing. This rotates from political to social and even economic issues in society. This paper will look at some of the philosophies in relation to social justice in various states.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is one of the key issues expected to come up in relation to social justice. Intersectionality is commonly used with respect to feminism. The term was coined by a famous legal specialist Kimberlee Crenshaw (Adam, 2012. Intersectionality was initially used to show how various would influence each other and how the; law in the united stated laced the right policies to handle the issues. For instance, US law treated cases of racial discrimination and those of sex discrimination independently (Otteson, 2017). This was regardless of the obvious influence each had on the other. The term came up in the time when there were specific jobs for black women and white women. This proved that sex and racism were connected with each other and should not be handled separately.
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In today’s word, this concept is vastly used to show how various injustice issues are connected with each other. The theories show how these issues cannot be handled separately from each other (0tteson, 2013). The experience of different marginalizes groups is therefore different and varied depending on various factors. Various experiences in the society are determined by issues like race, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, religion among others (whales, 2019). An individual’s privileges and oppressions are therefore determined by, more than one factor and not one specific factor independently. Intersectionality, therefore, helps to understand how social forces shape our experiences in society.
Intersectional and Traditional Social Justice
Traditional social justice, however, has a different approach from intersectionality. This approach focuses on the ethics in the society based on the customs, indigenous practices as well as community-bases beliefs and practices (whales, 2019). Traditional social justice is used by activists and organizations in effort to foster ethical behaviors in different societies. This approach involves enhancing the ethics found in traditional indigenous systems so as to enhance relationships within the members of the society (Otteson, 2017). These factors include but are not limited to virtues like honesty, generosity, and hospitality. When using the traditional social justice approach, informal justice systems are used. These include informal public hearings and proceeding to determine punishment for wrongdoers. The idea of social responsibility is also encouraged in traditional social justice.
Both the traditional social approach and intersectionality are used to enhance social justice in society. As discussed the intersectionality approach helps create a better society by enlightening on the various experiences people encounter (Adam, 2012). The traditional approach, on the other hand, encouraged the incorporation of indigenous and informal practices and values towards creating a just and fair society (Otteson, 2017). These approaches can be used hand in hand with each other in society. An understanding of both approaches helps enhance good relationship between individual and the society at large.
Utilitarianism
Scholars in philosophy have come up with various theories regarding social justice. One of these theories is the utilitarianism theory. This theory was formulated by a famous British philosopher called Jeremy Bentham (Adam, 2012). The theory focuses on ethical issues in society. It’s based on the notion that the happiness of the majority members of the society is viewed as the greatest good. The goodness or badness of an action is determined by the outcome it brings to individuals and others (whales, 2019). a good action is one that brings happiness and a bad action one that leads to lack of happiness. The theory aims at ensuring that the decisions made about the society are for the greater good of it.
In utilitarianism theory has both strengths and weaknesses. The theory has been of great help in forming a basis for action- reason decisions. It is also the only theory the has even able to justify the need for military forces (whales, 2019). The theory, however, fails to give a guarantee on the outcome of all actions. This is due to the fact that consequences are mostly in the future time .they, therefore, cannot be predicted with certainty. The theory also fails to fairy pay respect to individual human rights and freedoms (Otteson, 2017). It insinuates that the rights of an individual can be violated for the greater good of the greater number of people. This is unlawful and not in line with individual rights and freedoms.
In conclusion, creating a just state requires immersion of efforts and great understanding. This will be needed in order to get the real picture of the influencing factors without bias and prejudice. The right philosophies and theories should also be adopted. The strengths and weaknesses of various theories should be considered when using them to create a just society.
References
Adam, H. (2012). Ethnicity, Race, And Care In Old Age: What Can Social Justice Framework Offer? . Ageing, Diversity And Inequality , 33(2):11-33
Otteson, J. (2017). Opting Out: A Defense Of Social Justice. The Independent Review , 22(2): 11-25
Whales, R. (2019). New Thinking About Social Justice. The Independent Review .23 (1):5-11
