Political Science · Ch 14 — Social Justice
Pursuing Social Justice
Pursuing Social Justice
If deep and persistent divisions exist within a society between those who enjoy greater wealth, property and the power that goes with such ownership, and those who are excluded and deprived, we would say that social justice is lacking there. It is important to be clear that this is not simply about the different standards of living that may be enjoyed by different individuals in a society — justice does not require absolute equality and sameness in the way people live. But a society would be considered unjust if the differences between the rich and the poor are so great that they seem to be living in entirely different worlds altogether, and if the relatively deprived have no real chance at all of improving their condition, however hard they may work.
Drawn by us to help you understand the concept clearly, and verified to make sure it's accurate. For exams, practice from your NCERT textbook's own diagram.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, formal portrait, whose definition of a just society as one where reverence and contempt dissolve into a compassionate society opens this section. Own-illustrated for this platform from the real NCERT page's own facts (composition, labels, and content are recreated; the specific artistic rendering of any real pho …
In other words, a just society should provide people with the basic minimum conditions needed to enable them to live healthy and secure lives, and to develop their talents as well as pursue their own chosen goals, with equal opportunity to do so. Deciding exactly what these basic minimum conditions of life should be is not straightforward. Various methods of calculating the basic needs of people have been devised by different governments and by international organisations, such as the World Health Organisation. But in general it is agreed that the basic amount of nourishment needed to remain healthy, housing, a supply of clean drinking water, education, and a minimum wage together constitute an important part of these basic conditions.
Providing people with their basic needs is considered to be one of the responsibilities of a democratic government. However, providing such basic conditions of life to all citizens may pose a heavy burden on governments, particularly in countries like India that have a large number of poor people. As B.R. Ambedkar put it:
"A Just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society."
This captures the deeper aim behind guaranteeing a basic minimum: replacing a society divided between those looked up to and those looked down upon with one in which every person's basic dignity and needs are given genuinely compassionate regard. …