What is "Social Justice" Anyway?

[jenkiedad]

An intersting article by Dr. Thomas Sowell about “political rhetoric”:

townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/06/28/a_political_glossary_part_iii/page/full/

“If there were a Hall of Fame for political rhetoric, the phrase “social justice” would deserve a prominent place there. It has the prime virtue of political catchwords: It means many different things to many different people.”

“Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a good catchword can stop thought for 50 years. The phrase “social justice” has stopped many people from thinking, for at least a century – and counting.”

“In political and ideological discussions, the issue is usually whether there is some social injustice. Even if we can agree that there is some injustice, what makes it social?”

So, “social justice” is an effort to correct a “social injustice”. And just what is the cause of that “injustice”? Is it discrimination, the cultural enviornment, the political environment, the differences in a society, the differences in climate or it some other factor or a combination of factors?

 

[GEddie]

Just my MX$2 worth; I am sure that there is an official definition for social justice, but I’m not going to look for it right now.

Whereas justice has to do with how human beings treat each other, social justice has to do with how the general society treats everybody. The poor, ethnic minorities, etc, are often marginalized by the general society. This is often referred to as “social injustice.”

Social injustice has however, been used as a catchphrase for intrusive social meddling on behalf of disadvantaged sectors.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Bartolome_Casas]

The title of this threat is “What is ‘Social Justice’ Anyway?”

I will give an answer. But first a couple of brief observations:

This threat opens with a quote from the political conservative columnist and scholar Thomas Sowell. I did some Googling and was unable to determine what religion, if any, Thomas Sowell subscribes too. His own web site, tsowell.com/, does not have a biography of him (not that I could find). The Wikipedia article on him, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell, makes no mention of religion. If he was a Catholic or some sort of Christian, I think it would be pretty easy to discover that through some Google searches. Yet, it is possible that he has a religion but wishes to keep it very personal and private.

If Thomas Sowell is not a Catholic, then it would be very understandable that the term “Social Justice” would make no sense to him.

Thomas Sowell publishes a lot in the political conservative magazine called “National Review.” That magazine has a history of publishing articles that dissent from Catholic Social Doctrine.

The founder of that magazine, William F. Buckley, in 1961 wrote a piece for the National Review saying that Pope John XXIII’s encyclical “Mater et Magistra” was very, very wrong about many things. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mater_si,_magistra_no

In 2009, political conservative author George Weigel wrote a piece for the National Review saying that many, many things were wrong with Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.” See: nationalreview.com/articles/227839/i-caritas-veritate-i-gold-and-red/george-weigel

Both of these papal encyclicals “Mater et Magistra” and “Caritas in Veritate,” are all about Catholic Social Doctrine.

In general, the leaders of the political conservative movement in the USA embrace and endorse certain teachings of Catholic Social Doctrine, but hate and reject many teachings of Catholic Social Doctrine. But usually they do not directly or openly attack the teachings of Catholic Social Doctrine.

In general, anyone who subscribes to the whole ideology/philosophy of the political conservative movement in the USA must dissent from a number of key points of Catholic Social Doctrine. This is pointed out in a recent brief essay by a highly respected professor at the Franciscan University at Steubenville. See: skrason.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/the-conservative-weakness-and-the-solution-catholic-social-teaching/

Now, here’s my answer to the question, “What is ‘Social Justice’ Anyway?”

(1) For faithful Catholics:

Substantial social justice would be the state of affairs what would exist on earth if most of the people of the world were in a State of Grace and if the teachings of Catholic Social Doctrine were generally followed by the government or governments of the world. Full and lasting social justice will occur only after the Glorious Return of Jesus Christ.

(2) For political Conservatives:

Social justice is what emerges when government is reduced to almost nothing and the Free Market is allowed to decide everything. For political Conservatives, whatever the outcomes of free, natural competitions among individuals, groups, companies and nations, these outcomes are by definition fair and just.

(3) For political Progressives:

Social justice is what occurs when government activism (public schools; Social Security: Medicare; etc.) and cultural activism (e.g., Lady Gaga, PETA, NAACP) has totally or mostly ended poverty, crime, war, oppression, slavery, racism, sexism, homophobe-ism, discrimination due to religious belief or disbelief, and so on.

Was this answer of any value to anyone? If it was, thank God. If it wasn’t, forgive me.

Orate fratres.

 

[jenkiedad]

Wow! That’s a pretty tortuous route of reasoning to convict someone of being a godless conservative.

To find out more about Dr. Sowell, all you had to do was use the same web site that was originally referenced:
townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/

See the following:

"Thomas Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem. As with many others in his neighborhood, Thomas Sowell left home early and did not finish high school. The next few years were difficult ones, but eventually he joined the Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After leaving the service, Thomas Sowell entered Harvard University, worked a part-time job as a photographer and studied the science that would become his passion and profession: economics. "

"After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (1958), Thomas Sowell went on to receive his master’s in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (1968). "

"In the early '60s, Sowell held jobs as an economist with the Department of Labor and AT&T. But his real interest was in teaching and scholarship. In 1965, at Cornell University, Sowell began the first of many professorships. Thomas Sowell’s other teaching assignments include Rutgers University, Amherst College, Brandeis University and the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught in the early '70s and also from 1984 to 1989. "

"Thomas Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His dozen books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college. Moreover, much of his writing is considered ground-breaking – work that will outlive the great majority of scholarship done today. "

"Though Thomas Sowell had been a regular contributor to newspapers in the late '70s and early '80s, he did not begin his career as a newspaper columnist until 1984. George F. Will’s writing, says Sowell, proved to him that someone could say something of substance in so short a space (750 words). And besides, writing for the general public enables him to address the heart of issues without the smoke and mirrors that so often accompany academic writing. "

"In 1990, he won the prestigious Francis Boyer Award, presented by The American Enterprise Institute. "

"Currently Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford, Calif. "

You did not mention this, but Dr. Sowell is also black (his photo on the links is a dead give away) and is the author of a number of books:
freedomkeys.com/bksowell.htm

From his articles that I’ve read, I would say that he definitely believes in God, but if he belongs to an active religious denomination, I do not know. He obviously does not wear his affiliation on his sleeve.

 

[Contarini]

An intersting article by Dr. Thomas Sowell about “political rhetoric”:

townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/06/28/a_political_glossary_part_iii/page/full/

“If there were a Hall of Fame for political rhetoric, the phrase “social justice” would deserve a prominent place there. It has the prime virtue of political catchwords: It means many different things to many different people.”

“Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a good catchword can stop thought for 50 years. The phrase “social justice” has stopped many people from thinking, for at least a century – and counting.”

“In political and ideological discussions, the issue is usually whether there is some social injustice. Even if we can agree that there is some injustice, what makes it social?”

So, “social justice” is an effort to correct a “social injustice”. And just what is the cause of that “injustice”? Is it discrimination, the cultural enviornment, the political environment, the differences in a society, the differences in climate or it some other factor or a combination of factors?

Defining justice by injustice isn’t a sound approach. Evil is a privation. Good is primary.

Social justice is, I’d say, what St. Thomas Aquinas calls “distributive justice,” giving to each what is due them.

Of course, that raises a lot of questions as to what is “due” any given person, and different cultures will have different ideas about this.

But the Catholic Church has some fairly clear teaching about the things that are “due” people simply because they are human beings made in the image of God.

A society that, as a whole, allows people to be treated in ways incompatible with being in the image of God is not practicing social justice.

Edwin

 

[Bartolome_Casas]

Wow! That’s a pretty tortuous route of reasoning to convict someone of being a godless conservative.

To find out more about Dr. Sowell, all you had to do was use the same web site that was originally referenced:
townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/

See the following:

"Thomas Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem. As with many others in his neighborhood, Thomas Sowell left home early and did not finish high school. The next few years were difficult ones, but eventually he joined the Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After leaving the service, Thomas Sowell entered Harvard University, worked a part-time job as a photographer and studied the science that would become his passion and profession: economics. "

"After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (1958), Thomas Sowell went on to receive his master’s in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (1968). "

"In the early '60s, Sowell held jobs as an economist with the Department of Labor and AT&T. But his real interest was in teaching and scholarship. In 1965, at Cornell University, Sowell began the first of many professorships. Thomas Sowell’s other teaching assignments include Rutgers University, Amherst College, Brandeis University and the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught in the early '70s and also from 1984 to 1989. "

"Thomas Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His dozen books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college. Moreover, much of his writing is considered ground-breaking – work that will outlive the great majority of scholarship done today. "

"Though Thomas Sowell had been a regular contributor to newspapers in the late '70s and early '80s, he did not begin his career as a newspaper columnist until 1984. George F. Will’s writing, says Sowell, proved to him that someone could say something of substance in so short a space (750 words). And besides, writing for the general public enables him to address the heart of issues without the smoke and mirrors that so often accompany academic writing. "

"In 1990, he won the prestigious Francis Boyer Award, presented by The American Enterprise Institute. "

"Currently Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford, Calif. "

You did not mention this, but Dr. Sowell is also black (his photo on the links is a dead give away) and is the author of a number of books:
freedomkeys.com/bksowell.htm

From his articles that I’ve read, I would say that he definitely believes in God, but if he belongs to an active religious denomination, I do not know. He obviously does not wear his affiliation on his sleeve.

I saw nothing in the above that indicates that Thomas Sowell believes in God, the Bible, the Church, Jesus, or anything religious. I reviewed a list of his books and none of them seem to be about religion.

It is clear that Thomas Sowell is a strong political conservative, and is fiercely anti-socialist, anti-liberal. And since many socialists and liberals are anti-religion, it might seem logical that Thomas Sowell is a believer in God. But not necessarily.

One of the most popular writers among political conservatives in the U.S. is Ayn Rand,who was outspoken in her promotion of atheism and denunciation of all religion, especially Christianity.

Yet, today, I believe that there are quite a few political conservative leaders and writers who are atheists or agnostics or indifferentists, but who keep this to themselves for strategic reasons.

But, to be clear, I have no idea whether Thomas Sowell worships God or Jesus or not. All I can conclude from a fair amount of Google searching is that he does not seem to openly profess to worship God or Jesus.

I myself don’t count as credible or worthwhile the writings of political conservatives who are agnostic, atheist, or who seem to profess Christianity or Catholicism mostly as a cover or strategy to promote their career or their cause.

To me, it problematic when agnostics, Freemasons, indifferentists or atheists, of the Right or the Left, are forming the political views of Catholics. Catholic Social Doctrine should be forming the political views of Catholics.

 

[aragonjohn1]

from the catholic encyclopedia

Because man is a person, a free and intelligent being, created in the image of God, he has a dignity and a worth vastly superior to the material and animal world by which he is surrounded. Man can know, love, and worship his Creator; he was made for that end, which he can only attain perfectly in the future, immortal, and never-ending life to which he is destined. God gave him his faculties and his liberty in order that he might freely work for the accomplishment of his destiny. He is in duty bound to strive to fulfil the designs of his Creator, he must exercise his faculties and conduct his life according to the intentions of his Lord and Master. Because he is under these obligations he is consequently invested with rights, God-given and primordial, antecedent to the State and independent of it. Such are man’s natural rights, granted to him by nature herself, sacred, as is their origin, and inviolable. Beside these he may have other rights given him by Church or State, or acquired by his own industry and exertion. All these rights, whatever be their source, are the object of the virtue of justice. Justice requires that all persons should be left in the free enjoyment of all their rights.

A right in the strict sense in which the term is used in this connection is not a mere vague and indefinite claim against others, which others are bound to respect, on any grounds whatever. We sometimes say that the unemployed have a right to work, that the needy have a right to assistance, and it may be conceded that those phrases are quite correct, provided that such a right is understood as a claim in charity not as a claim in justice. For, at least if we confine our attention to natural law and ordinary circumstances, the assistance to which a man in need has a claim does not belong to him in justice before it is handed over to him, when it becomes his. His claim to it rests on the fact that he is a brother in distress, and his brotherhood constitutes his title to our pity, sympathy, and help. It may, of course, happen that positive law does something more than this for the poor and needy; it may be that the law of the land has given a legal right to the unemployed to have employment provided for them, or to the poor a legal right to relief; then, of course, the claim will be one of justice.

A claim in justice, or a right in the strict sense, is a moral and lawful faculty of doing, possessing, or exacting something. If it be a moral and lawful faculty of doing something for the benefit of others, it belongs to the class of rights of jurisdiction. Thus a father has the natural right to bring up and educate his son, not for his own, but for the son’s benefit. A lawful sovereign has the right to rule his subjects for the common good. The largest class of rights which justice requires that we should render to others are rights of ownership. Ownership is the moral faculty of using something subordinate to us for our own advantage. The owner of a house may dispose of it as he will. He may live in it, or let it, or leave it unoccupied, or pull it down, or sell it; he may make changes in it, and in general he may deal with it as he likes, because it is his. Because it is his, he has a right to all the uses and advantages which it possesses. It is his property, and as such its whole being should subserve his need and convenience. Because it belongs to him he must be preferred to all others as to the enjoyment of the uses to which it can be put. He has the right to exclude others from the enjoyment of its uses, it belongs with all the advantages which it can confer to him alone. Were anyone else to make use of the house against the reasonable wish of the owner, he would offend against justice, he would not be rendering to the owner what belongs to him.

The right of ownership may be absolute or qualified. Absolute ownership extends to the substance of the property and to all its uses. Qualified ownership may, in the language of divines, be direct or indirect. The former is ownership of the substance of a thing without its uses, such as the landlord has over a house which he has let. Indirect ownership is the faculty of using, but not of disposing of, a thing. When anything definite and determinate is owned by anyone so that he can say–“This is my property”–he is said by divines to have a right in re. On the other hand if the thing has not yet come into existence though it will come, or it is not separate and determinate, so that he cannot say that it is actually his, but he nevertheless has a strict claim in justice that it should become his, he is said to have a right ad rem. Thus a farmer has a right ad rem to the harvest of the coming year from his land; when he has harvested his crop he will have a right in re.
Ownership in the sense explained is the principal object of the virtue of justice as it regulates the relations of man with man. It sharply distinguishes justice from charity, gratitude, patriotism, and other virtues whose object is a claim against others indeed, but a claim of a less strict and more indefinite character. Justice between man and man is called individual, particular, or commutative justice, because it is chiefly concerned with contracts and exchange. Individual justice is distinguished from social, for not only individuals have claims in justice against other individuals but a subject has claims against the society to which he belongs, as society has claims against him

• newadvent.org/cathen/08571c.htm

shalom

God Bless

 

[jenkiedad]

I saw nothing in the above that indicates that Thomas Sowell believes in God, the Bible, the Church, Jesus, or anything religious. I reviewed a list of his books and none of them seem to be about religion.

It is clear that Thomas Sowell is a strong political conservative, and is fiercely anti-socialist, anti-liberal. And since many socialists and liberals are anti-religion, it might seem logical that Thomas Sowell is a believer in God. But not necessarily.

One of the most popular writers among political conservatives in the U.S. is Ayn Rand,who was outspoken in her promotion of atheism and denunciation of all religion, especially Christianity.

Yet, today, I believe that there are quite a few political conservative leaders and writers who are atheists or agnostics or indifferentists, but who keep this to themselves for strategic reasons.

But, to be clear, I have no idea whether Thomas Sowell worships God or Jesus or not. All I can conclude from a fair amount of Google searching is that he does not seem to openly profess to worship God or Jesus.

I myself don’t count as credible or worthwhile the writings of political conservatives who are agnostic, atheist, or who seem to profess Christianity or Catholicism mostly as a cover or strategy to promote their career or their cause.

To me, it problematic when agnostics, Freemasons, indifferentists or atheists, of the Right or the Left, are forming the political views of Catholics. Catholic Social Doctrine should be forming the political views of Catholics.

Well, I’m no “GOOGLE” expert, but it didn’t take me more than a couple of key strokes to find that one source says he is “Roman Catholic”.
wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Thomas_Sowell%27s_religion&src=ansTT

Also, here’s a more complete biography:
answers.com/topic/thomas-sowell

And, yes, I do know that Ayn Rand was an atheist, but she is not indicative of all conservatives. Quite the contrary, I would venture to say that most “conservatives” strongly believe in God.

In fact, it only took me a couple of more key strokes to find this 2009 survey:
publicreligion.org/research/2009/09/conservative-progressive-religious-activists-surveys/

“In terms of religious affiliation, conservative activists are almost exclusively Christian, whereas progressive activists are more diverse. Among conservative activists, 54% identify as evangelical Protestant, 35% as Roman Catholic, and 9% with Mainline Protestantism.”

“Among the conservative religious activists, 96% say religion is extremely or very important in their lives”

Maybe you need to check your browsing software to make sure it’s not excluding you from accurate information about “conservatives”.

 

[Bartolome_Casas]

Well, I’m no “GOOGLE” expert, but it didn’t take me more than a couple of key strokes to find that one source says he is “Roman Catholic”.
wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Thomas_Sowell%27s_religion&src=ansTT

wiki.answers.com is a site on which any random person comes along and answers another person’s question. It is notoriously unreliable, unless the answering person gives a citation or link to some reliable source. In this case, no such citation or link was given.

I don’t know what Thomas Sowell’s religion is, or even if he has one. I’ve tried to find out, but was unable.

I do thing lots of people who love his writing ASSUME that he is a Christian or Catholic. But I have found no credible evidence that he is. His own web site makes no mention of his religious faith, as far as I can see.

To me, if a political conservative does not LOVE GOD he is disqualified from commenting on political and social and cultural matters, no matter how brilliant of mind he may be, no matter how well educated he may be, no matter who much he supports the creed of political conservatism. In my experience, a person who does not LOVE and WORSHIP GOD will usually end up NOT LOVING HIS NEIGHBOR, and will end up using his mind to construct reasons why he is justified in hating his neighbor, hating strangers, hating sinners, hating those in prison, hating the poor, hating “losers” in general.

But I am not attaching any of that to Thomas Sowell. I don’t know if he has a religion or not. I have only a passing familiarity with his writings. He is known to be a Libertarian.

 

[Bartolome_Casas]

In fact, it only took me a couple of more key strokes to find this 2009 survey:
publicreligion.org/research/2009/09/conservative-progressive-religious-activists-surveys/

“In terms of religious affiliation, conservative activists are almost exclusively Christian, whereas progressive activists are more diverse. Among conservative activists, 54% identify as evangelical Protestant, 35% as Roman Catholic, and 9% with Mainline Protestantism.”

Interesting.

Since 54% of conservative activists are Evangelical Protestants, and only 35% are Roman Catholics, one might conclude that that the political conservative movement is mainly an Evangelical Protestant movement.

Should Catholics be having their political and social view formed by Evangelical Protestants (who reject, degrade regard as “pagan” and “heretical” many teachings of the Church), or should their views by formed by Catholic Social Doctrine?

 

[TEPO]

Interesting.

Since 54% of conservative activists are Evangelical Protestants, and only 35% are Roman Catholics, one might conclude that that the political conservative movement is mainly an Evangelical Protestant movement.

Should Catholics be having their political and social view formed by Evangelical Protestants (who reject, degrade regard as “pagan” and “heretical” many teachings of the Church), SIZE=“4”]or should their views by formed by Catholic Social Doctrine

?

I think a Proper balance of the seven Virtues is all that’s necessary. We can only accomplish so much from the voters booth. But by following the Virtues, we can govern our own life, and influence others in the process… The gift of others Free Will essentially becomes the vehicle by which influence will spread. Social justice can only be lived-out in truth through the Virtues. When we jump the virtues and go straight to social justice, we’re giving up truth for results… It just doesn’t work that way.