Justice, wisdom, tolerance, love. We struggle with defining moral concepts such as these. Therefore, we struggle to know what is required to achieve them. Friedrich Hayek, a political philosopher and economist, said he spent a decade trying to define social justice, and failed. In the end, he claims that it is a term “used to assert that a particular claim is justified without giving any reason.” Journalist and philosopher Michael Novak said that social justice is used as “an instrument of ideological intimidation…whose operational meaning is, ‘We need a law against that.’” Social justice is a moral concept we struggle to define and therefore struggle to achieve. Yet a lack of wisdom on these topics does not make us give up on pursuing them nonetheless. In Concord Academy’s mission statement, many of the values we share and strive toward follow the statement “We are a community.” We strive for a more “just” future. But our lack of understanding about social justice requires us to think and talk about it carefully as we pursue it. We must be clear about what we mean when we say “social justice,” as it is not readily defined.
The idea of social justice is relatively new. Looking at older views, the idea that the social world could be reshaped to fit human design did not really exist. For a long time, the basic shape of the social world was believed to be determined by “nature.” By the laws of a deity or God, by class or status. Only as our understanding of the world grew did the idea that we could affect the social world arise. If knowledge of the natural world gave us the ability to cater to human needs, then knowledge of the social world would allow us to change it.
That is where sociology, the science of the social world, enters the picture. Bradley Campbell says sociology can “enable us to live happier lives…It raises the hope of social justice.” Social justice and sociology are inextricably tied— philosophies of social justice emerge from an understanding of the social world. He furthers that “sociology cannot decide between clashing values, but it can sometimes clear up matters of fact. And it can point us to what is possible—to whether and how we can act on our value commitments” A problem that is derived from the relationship between social justice and sociology is that sociology is a divided field. There is currently no net of beliefs, values, techniques—or general framework in which to formulate theories—shared as a paradigm by the scientific community.
Often, institutionalized ideals of “social justice” stem from a singular sociological line of reasoning. As Campbell clarifies, “social justice is not a particular idea about how institutions should be organized; it is just the idea that the way institutions are organized is of moral concern.” This is broadly accepted, so institutions now must also grapple with morality alongside the individual. The most popular line used as a basis of “social justice” is a branch of conflict theory called critical theory. Critical theory argues that social problems are less about the individual and more based on societal structures and cultural assumptions. Most institutions and individuals draw solely or heavily on this single branch of conflict theory. This oftentimes creates an idea that social justice is synonymous with this singular theory and that steps towards it can only be achieved within the frame of critical theory.
Yet there are many other theories that can also be implemented alongside critical theory. Social justice is not readily defined and neither is the theory used to pursue it. For example, phenomenological theory is contrarily centered around the individual and their experiences. It focuses on subjectivity and frames the social world from the perspective of individuals. Phenomenology sees the person as the creator of the social world, their own social world, governed by their own morality and the person's subjective experience. It is possible that utilizing this theory could help us understand the stem of discrimination and violence, and promote the advancement of understanding how and what social justice looks like. By looking at a range of theories, we can broaden our understanding. The path to “social justice” will never be clear or easy, but by being open to multiple lines of thought we might just get closer.