Justice is a term with many uses, to which other words such as social justice
adjoined by other words such as social justice, fiscal justice,
etc.
What is justice ?
The site public-life.com
describes justice as a philosophical and moral ideal. Things get
complicated with this type of definition. What is just or unjust may be perceived differently from the
be perceived differently from each person's point of view.
The site adds : " It
is both instinctive (the feeling of injustice or justice is
imposes itself on us) and complex (it is impossible to define abstractly
criteria of justice). "
Justice a question of values ?
Justice
justice is therefore instinctive. This means that it is a feeling. We
feel things are unfair if we cannot access them while others can.
others have it.
In some situations, then, it is probably legitimate to
probably legitimate to feel injustice: think of the segregation policy that may have
of segregation that may have taken place in South Africa or the United States. When
injustice comes from discriminatory criteria such as origin, religion, sexual orientation
religion, sexual orientation, gender (the struggle of feminism shows how important it is to fight against all discrimination) , etc. it is obvious that this is unacceptable.
In
other situations, it's about not being able to afford it; when it comes to financial means, it's more complex.
Social justice 
Although
that the notion of
of justice may vary from one point of view to another, it seems logical to speak of justice in terms of
the aspect of equality of opportunity or fairness.
Justice should not be confused
justice and jealousy. It is in the character of human beings to
to want to possess certain things and to be tempted. It is because of this that
that is why the marketing approaches of many companies are so successful.
are so successful. Envy is one of the feelings that
Each of us has experienced at one time or another.
What can grow the person is the way to deal with envy.
- On one hand, it can turn into jealousy.
one hand, it can turn into jealousy. In this case, the envious person will
envious person will claim in the name of justice to have the right to possess, too
On the other hand, it can serve as an example and the envious person will
and the person will use his or her potential to achieve what he or she wants.
to acquire what they want.
Without making value judgments about either
value on either approach, the first seems less productive than the second.
attitude seems less productive than the second. In more graphic terms, the question to be asked is the following:
In the name of social justice, should we
In the name of social justice, should we, through the state, take a
of the fruits of the past and present work of some
some to transfer it to others who earn less.
Some
will consider it unjust to be dispossessed in this way. On the other hand
others, will have claims as long as there is a gap in
The tool economists use to measure income inequality is the Gini coefficient.
The site of the Walloon Institute of Statistics defines it as :
" The
Gini coefficient is a synthetic measure of income inequality
within a population. It ranges from 0, when there is complete equality
(i.e., all incomes are equal), to 1 when inequality
inequality is maximal (when all income is received by a single individual).
individual). It can also be interpreted as the average income gap
(expressed as a function of average income) between two individuals drawn at random.
"
Social mobility
From a social point of view, a value is therefore that each
social point of view, a value is therefore that everyone should be able to benefit from an equality
of opportunity that is optimal. This means that regardless of the social background of
social background of his or her parents, everyone can aspire not to be confined
be confined to a particular social class.
According to this article on openedition.org,
" A
often associated with the notion of social mobility is the idea of a
society divided into strata between which individuals could move more or less
move more or less easily. The different social groups and categories
social are thought of in terms of hierarchical continuum and the relationships they maintain are summed up in more or less "social distances" "
The study shows three essential elements :
- "Concerning socio-professional destinies, the study shows a relative tendency towards social immobility.
- Concerning
educational destiny, we note that the higher the level of education of
the higher the level of education of the individuals, the higher the level of education of the individuals, the higher the level of education of the individuals, the higher the level of education of the individuals, the
higher in the social hierarchy.
- In addition, our analyses
analyses lead us to conclude that there are different mobility "regimes" for men and women
for men and women if we consider mobility from the point of view of the
from the point of view of the ownership criterion."
In a region like Wallonia, which
region such as Wallonia, which has a strong working-class heritage and a desire for social
social mobility, it appears that socio-professional mobility is low.
low.
The same is true for education where the level of education of the parents has an effect on the level of education of the children. This is why it is essential to rethink school and fight against determinism in school.
Finally, on the aspect of gender and for the criterion of property, significant disparities remain.
We can think of
We can therefore think that between the objectives and the will of the population
and the reality, there can remain large disparities. So even
when there is relative consensus on a justice goal to be achieved and a
achieved and a common meaning, it is complicated to achieve it.
The societal choice
The societal choice that we collectively want is difficult to define and even more difficult to achieve. What some people consider fair is not fair for others depending on each person's values.
The
have an interest in keeping society relatively egalitarian
in the sense that it brings social peace and a peaceful society.
Even
with one of the lowest Gini coefficients, some regions want to,
through political discourse, to move towards complete egalitarianism
at the risk of jeopardizing equilibrium: emigration of the most important
emigration of the most important taxpayers, refusal to pay taxes by working
Justice being a notion depending on values, reaching a consensus is quite complicated.
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