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GEC 108 10 Justice and Fairness

Rawls proposed a concept of social justice called "Justice as Fairness" consisting of two principles: (1) equal basic liberties and (2) fair equality of opportunity and redistribution to benefit the least advantaged. He argued this would be chosen under a "veil of ignorance" where people do not know their place in society. Rawls' theory is an example of distributive justice concerning a just allocation of primary goods like wealth, rights, and opportunities. While influential, his theory is idealized and some argue against redistributing from the most to least advantaged.

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85 views3 pages

GEC 108 10 Justice and Fairness

Rawls proposed a concept of social justice called "Justice as Fairness" consisting of two principles: (1) equal basic liberties and (2) fair equality of opportunity and redistribution to benefit the least advantaged. He argued this would be chosen under a "veil of ignorance" where people do not know their place in society. Rawls' theory is an example of distributive justice concerning a just allocation of primary goods like wealth, rights, and opportunities. While influential, his theory is idealized and some argue against redistributing from the most to least advantaged.

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johndanielgraida28
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JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS

Many consider the American political philosopher Rawls (1921-2002) the most important
and political philosopher of the 20th century. Rawls rejecs utilitarianism and offers the
number of arguments against such a theory.

1. Rawls’ Justice and Fairness – he called his concept of social justice


“Justice as Fairness” which consists of two principles.

1.1 Two Principles


 Firts’s Principle of Social Justice – often called ‘the Liberty Principle’ – concerns
political institutions. This means that everybody has the same basic liberties which
can nerver be taken away.
 Second Principle of Social Justice – consisted of ‘fair equality of opportunity’
and ‘the Difference Principle’ – concerns social and economic institutions. While focused on
equality, the Second Principle recognizes that a society could not avoid inequalities among
its people.

1.2 The ‘Thought Experiment’.


 Being a political philosopher, Rawls unsurprisingly focused on society’s
basic institutions. He proposed that unless institutions such as the constitution,
economy, and education system functioned in a just way for all, social justice would not
truly exist in a society.
 Taking into account the value of impartiality, Rawls added a condition to
assure that the choice of social justice principles would truly be unbiased.
 Rawls contended that only under a ‘veil of ignorance’ could people reach
a fair and impartial contract as true equals not prejudiced by their place in
society. Under the ‘veil of ignorance,’ these fictional persons would not know
their own sex, age race, social class, abilities, preferences, religion, life goals, or anything
else about themselves.
 Utilizing reason and logic, the fictional individuals would first have to
resolve what most persons in most societies want. Rawls argued that rational
human beings would pick four things, which he called the ‘primary goods:’ (1)
wealth and income, (2) rights and liberties, (3) opportunities for advancement,
(4) self respect. In the following and critical step, the participants would have
to deliberate on how a society should go about fairly distributing these ‘primary goods’
among its people.

2. An Evaluation of Rawl’s Principles


 One of the criticisms against Rawl’s Justice as Fairness principles is that
they do not allow ample tolerance for various religious and intensely held beliefs.
 Other find controversial, if not downright unacceptable, Rawl’s
difference Principle, the idea that the greatest benefit must go to the least advantaged.
People such as conservative and free-market critics argue that it is unjust to get from the
most advantaged people what they have earned and redistribute it for the benefit of the
less fortunate.
 Rawls himself admitted that his concept for a just society was highly
idealized. He also acknowledged that currently, there is just a little support for his
Difference Principle in our public culture.

3. Distributive Justice
 Rawl’s ‘Justice as Fairness’ principles is an example of a social justice
concept called distributive justice. This concept basically concerns the nature of a socially
just allocation of goods in a society.
 Types of Distributive Norms
a. Eqaulity: Member’s outcomes should be based upon their inputs.
Therefore, an individual who has invested a large amount of input (e.g. time, money,
energy) should receive more from the group that someone who has contributed very little.
Members of large groups prefer to base allocations of rewards and costs on equity.
b. Equality: Regardless of their inputs, all group members should be given
an equal share of the rewards/costs. Equality supports that someone who contributes 20%
of the group’s resources should receive as much as someone who contributes 60%.
c. Power: Those with more authority, status, or control over the group
should receive more than those in lower level positions.
d. Need: Those in greatest needs should be provided with resources
needed to meet those needs. These individuals should be given more resources than those
who already possess them, regardless of their input.
e. Responsibility: Group members who have the most should share their
Resources with those who have less.

3.1 Egalitarian. Egalitarianism is a set of closely related socio-economic-


political theories that without exemption promote the proposition that all society members
ought to have exactly equal amount of resources.
3.2 Capitalist. Laissez-faire capitalist distributive justice is when people, business,
and coporations perform based on their individual self-interest for their own benefit. The
principal role of government is to allow a free and fair market system, as well as to protect
persons, business, and corporations from taking the benfits of their actions appropriated
by others.
3.3 Socialist. State socialist distributive justice is a system where the government or a
central authority controls the production of goods and services. From 1918 to 1989, the
former Soviet Union practiced this state socialism.

4. State and Citizens Responsibility


Taxation and Inclusive Growth
 Taxation is a means by which the state and its citizen accomplish their
Responsibilities to each other. By definition, taxation is a means by which states or
governments finance their expenditure, basically and ideally for consitituents, by imposing
charges on them and corporate entities.
 The relationship between taxes and social welfare programs drives the
proposition that taxes are essentially socialist.
 Democratic socialism works hand-in-hand with capitalism, free markets,
and private property. The system requires paying high taxes to help pay for a wide range of
state-funded social services,
 Taxation and social welfare programs are related ro another concept
called inclusive growth. Inclusive growth is economic growth that creates opportunity for
all segments of the population and distributes the dividends of increased prosperity, both
in monetary and non-monetary terms, fairly across society.

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