Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Orientations
- Part I Poor Health: Social Justice and Mutual Recognition
- Part II Poor Housing: Social Justice and Mutual Understanding
- Part III Poor Food: Social Justice and Mutual Respect
- Part IV Poor Spirits: Social Justice and Articulacy
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- Orientations
- Part I Poor Health: Social Justice and Mutual Recognition
- Part II Poor Housing: Social Justice and Mutual Understanding
- Part III Poor Food: Social Justice and Mutual Respect
- Part IV Poor Spirits: Social Justice and Articulacy
Summary
The most significant innovation in the history of ideas about justice, at least in modern times and perhaps in the entirety of that history, has been the development of the idea of social justice. This idea is an outgrowth of the notion that human beings are capable of reshaping the terrain of their social world to conform to an intentional design – a notion that first appeared in ancient Athens, but gained widespread acceptance only in the eighteenth century. Rooted in the postulate that all human beings are equal in worth, the modern idea of social justice has spawned a series of perceptions of and theories about justice that are intertwined closely with recent and contemporary institutions and practices. Whether we conceive of these theories and perceptions as causes or as consequences of the innovations that have accompanied them, it is impossible to understand the modern world without them.
D. Johnston 2011Most large world cities today exhibit many persisting and increasingly urgent human problems. Some of these problems require renewed ethical and not just economic, political, and sociological reflection. And one such serious problem is severe poverty and many of its consequences for our understanding of social justice today.
Especially grave is the unnecessary persistence of extreme child poverty. For very severe child poverty continues today amid unprecedented affluence and resourcefulness. This is the case not just in the increasing number of gigantic cities in the still developing parts of the world, but even in such much more affluent major capital cities of the EU as Paris, our extended case study here.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Moments of MutualityRearticulating Social Justice in France and the EU, pp. 17 - 26Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2012