Consider meaning of 'social justice'

Given that this week is social justice week, I find it very appropriate to laud and encourage the efforts being made to shed light on the injustice in this country and beyond, and the efforts being made to stir people to look beyond their often times insular daily lives.

However, we need more than moral indignation and a desire for change if we want to make a worthwhile impact, and most importantly, we cannot lose sight of the justice in social justice.

The phrase “social justice” is all too frequently used very loosely, and seemingly more often than not is used as a euphemism for social entitlement rather than anything remotely approximating actual justice.

Social justice is usually interpreted as referring to the level of fairness with which a society distributes its rewards and burdens. However, this definition masks an inherent bias and serves to skirt the issue of determining what constitutes a just society by automatically adopting a sort of pseudo-Marxist ethics.

As a result, social justice is often used as little more than a cover to attack economic free agency and property rights, and unfortunately serves to usurp individual rights in favor of group rights.

During this week, I therefore strongly encourage people to continue the fight against injustice and oppression, but I have a strong word of caution. Continue the fight, but don’t lose sight of what should be the true goal of social justice: a JUST society. What is needed is a society that commits itself unswervingly to promoting individual empowerment, not one that sacrifices individuals to the demand for group entitlements.

Aaron Hedlund