Social Justice in Practice - Essay Example

Introduction By virtue of human nature all individuals have social needs. The organization level of the society in terms of economics, education, politics and governance directly intercede on human dignity and societal common good. In the relation to the case study put forth about the Slinger family there are enormous discrepancies with respect to attainment of a justifiable social justice in the neighbourhood and beyond. Cases of job retrenchment as happened for Julie Slinger are self-indicators of lack of economic prowess and empowerment. A society not economically empowered relents to fraudulent means of sustaining their daily lives as seen when Julie had no other option but to go “on the lane” in search of a means of family upkeep. The rising increase in inequality in the distribution of income displays a trend affecting large number of countries from the poorest to the most affluent. There is a growing trend in the income related inequalities, that is; access to a variety of goods, services and benefits, ownership of capital and other assets, and in the personal security that money buys. Furthermore, there is huge inequality in the distribution of opportunities for employment evident with worsening unemployment and underemployment across various nations in the world creating an imbalance in rating of the individuals at the lesser end of socio-economic scale. There is alarming inequality gap between the rich and the poor within the societies in which we do exist as argued in the work of Hofrichter (2003). The spirit of winner gets it all art of capitalism has engulf the mind-set of different people worldwide, derailing the socio-economic aspect of brotherhood and a sense of communism for upholding individuals equality and welfare being. This has unequivocally caused a regression in the social justice campaign. According a research brought forth by Cowen (1999) on Community care, ideology and social policy it is depicted that social justice is multi-faceted and contested concept seeking to redress to these inequalities in the society through poverty reduction and overall improvements in the standards of living. Social justice ensures that individuals realize their potential to the contribution towards the society they live in and in reciprocation receive what is due from the society. The social justice institutions enable individuals to lead a fulfilling life while actively contributing to the community. However realization of social justice has encountered hindrance due to the collapse of state communism-an advocacy for equality in income. In contrary, a number of individuals hold the view that when people hold to economic activity for survival, professional and personal growth, and the societal collective welfare, inequality is inevitable but should stay on within acceptable limits that do vary due to particular situations. Another section of scholars view social justice as an academic discipline and profession with the mission to find how to improve the quality of life and the subjective well-being of groups, individuals and societies through crisis intervention, direct practice, policy, research, community organization (Miller, 1999). It further entails the campaign against social injustices like violations of human rights and civil liberties, and intervening on the best remedies to social disadvantages such as mental or physical disability, poverty among others. As International Federation of Social Workers pin-points, the systematic evident –based knowledge methodological approach by the social work profession is derived from research and practice evaluation. The federation acknowledges the dynamism existing between human beings and their environment drawing its functionality rationale to hasten individual, organizational, social and cultural changes through social theory, human development and social systems. This is the advocacy of the social workers. A voice and an effort exercised to correct by provision of relevant and most appropriate resolutions to the societal social injustices. On very critical analysis of relation, the case study presented of the Slinger family depicts very categorically lots of issues seeking advocacy of social justice. There is total social injustices seeking immediate and possibly long –term solution. We evident low leaving standards of the people living in the council estate in Rushton since most houses in this estate are in a state of disrepair and are boarded up. There are a number of cases of notes in the case study including lack of social amenities among many other factors. The peripherally located school in the estate experiences being put on special measures due to student poor performance and poor Ofsted report. Again the local library where Leanne goes closes down due to cuts in services. When institutions bestowed with task to mould human capital and capable professionals cease to contain its obligation then such a society is of questionable destiny. Insecurity overwhelms the Rushton town is greatly unbearable as crime rates hit the headlines of papers; this evident with the recent murder of 15year old lad. Poverty is the talk of the day-Singer’s family could sell part of their furniture to settle debt, again there is no possibility of the young hard working girl; Leane going to college to do her A levels since her mum can’t afford it. The health visitor could notice lack food stuff in the cupboards-a sign of incapability to even afford basics. The social worker will have to address various social justice issues in town of Rushton. This would include the seeking solution to unemployment for economic empowerment. We see Julie once having gone “on the lane” only to make ends meet; an act that derails her reputation and put her life to higher risk. Drug abuse is another major concern for address as the social worker picks up to its mission of transforming the society. This is depicted when Jonny’s continuous marijuana use made him loose his family. His son Callum is temporarily excluded from school smoking dope too. When productive projects for the youths like the one Callum used to attend can’t be sustainable enough to see the next day, there is an alarming call on social justice to the society. Deferring perceptions of social justice Perception of inequality From the viewpoint of social justice levels of inequality and the associated issues have been a point of concern. The unresolved point about inequality is the social outcomes with respect with social justice. It is of note that the high levels of income inequality are accompanied with poor levels of wellbeing, substandard public health and lower ranks in social cohesion. On the other hand societies with relative equality in income have good standards of political and economic trust and lesser levels of criminal activities. The social work aspect of these social justice issues would entail to find a solution on how best to create a society of relatively minimum ratings with respective to various perspectives of inequalities in the society. Societal status quo justification There is hope that in view of social issues inherent in our social systems we will forge a mechanism out to avoid. By justification of the system theory individuals are motivated in different degrees as an element of both situational and dispositional factors to rationalize the moral and other various failures of the economic, political and social institutions. Historical evolution of social work responses to social problems Social work is an academic discipline and a profession geared towards formulating and implementation of very strategic remedies to alleviate social injustices, improve quality of life and relative well-being of the society in general (Cowen, 1999). Social work tends to achieve this through research, policy implementation and crisis intervention. It involves campaign for advanced approaches to social disadvantages such as, disability, poverty, and violation of civil liberties and human rights. Social worker focused their research and practice of on areas such as: counseling, social policy, human development, public administration, social program evaluation, sociologic, psychosocial, psychotherapy, and community development. Social workers are categorically organized into local, national, continental, and international professional bodies. Social work is an interdisciplinary field that integrates theoretical analysis from education, sociology, economics, law, philosophy, politics, medicine, psychology and anthropology (Lister, 2010). Social work has emerged from the perspective of charity-the proponents of providing for the poor; all which started from ancient times and even also being encouraged in world religions. There were burial societies, provision of shelter to the homeless and alms to the poor. All these were social services. The emergence of industrialization and urbanization broke down the informal helping systems of the church and family resulting to evolution of organized social welfare services. Social work is basically considered to have built up from three movements: the charity organization society (COS) movement, the settlement house movement, and the development of institutions to sort solution for social problems. The fundamental areas of concern for these organizations were the spirit driven on the basis of humanity to create a fairly compliant and very receptive society. A society in which everyone would feel less burdened of social issues and a sense of collective responsibility towards serving human kind There has been quest to deal with poverty and its associated problems by the society. This has built a foundation on which social work has been derived from due to social and economic upheavals that are experienced as a result of Industrial Revolution. Nowadays social work tackles issues beyond poverty aspect unlike in the early social work. In modern life social worker find themselves dealing with sexism, racism, and societal discrimination of all kinds. Other models arising beyond the Settlement House movement by the likes of Jane Addams stressed on community solutions and political activism. Social work gives holistic and critical approach to social problems. Political Ideological Approaches in Social Policy Neo-liberalism Approach The so called social market economy could be of significance to the sorting of resolution to the Slinger family case study of social injustices. The proponents of Neo-liberalism edge to find solution to societal imbalances through a thoroughly examined economic liberalizations, sectorial privatisation, free trade locally and internationally, open markets operational systems and uplift of the private sector contribution to the community. The liberal scholars trying to create a ‘Third’ or ‘Middle Way’ to settle scores on the conflicting philosophies of collectivist central planning and classical liberalism (Bingham, 2008). The founder of Neoliberalism, Friedrich August, argues that neoliberalism as the aspect in practice of capitalism in an environment in which there is freedom from inhibitions of all forms of democratic view and social challenges. He further argues that all aspects of life are a function of the market’s logics. Individuals are logically market’s human capital, but the insights of market logics on a broader view extrapolate to utility maximization by individuals and economic optimization. The economic failures in the societies we live has kept philosophers on heels trying to come up with the most appropriate resolutions to steadily resolve these societal disparities. In Rushton town the Slinger family faces immense economic challenges. Privatization of social amenities such as health care could have a solution to the Julie’s son Ruby towards availability of affordable and effective health services. A referral as the one done by the health visitor for Ruby couldn’t have been seen if there were proper health care and sufficient supervision at the Slinger’s family disposal. Advocacy for free trade system by the neo-liberals is a strategy seeking to promote accessibility to relatively priced goods and services across the neighborhoods and beyond. Fair market completion and elimination of a possible monopoly could have made available of food stuffs at a rate locals could afford. This could have help secure some food to the empty cupboard of Mrs. Julie Slinger. Government intervention on economic issues in the society affects how freely goods and services move from one point to the other across the economy (Keen, 2004; 125-134). When tough stringent measures are formulated by the government local traders find it unprofitable doing business in such a market anymore. Therefore the Neo-liberalists idea of deregulation could have solved the environmental constraints towards doing business in the economy by imposing reasonable and economically taxes and duties to traders. Contribution of the private sector would solve the problem of alarming unemployment rate experienced by the society Slinger family operate in. empowerment of private sector propels healthy competition and thus affordable goods and services with uncompromised quality. The potential of such a sector is great penetration to steer up economic progress to the Rushton town and the general economy at large. Neo-liberals find social work to be of impact on the view that when individuals engage in productive work and effectively promotes oneself on work in the free market there can never exist these forms of social issues like poverty among other social problems in the society. Social Democratic Approach The political ideology of Social democracy operates on socioeconomic model and policy formulation that addresses democratic socialism by use of gradualist and reformist methods. Social democracy embraces the art of policy regimes of collective bargain schemes and universal welfare state in a capitalist economy set-up (Wash et al., 2000) Social democrats supports a smooth transition of the economic status to socialism by use of progressive social reform of capitalism. The Rushton town exists in an economy in which economic democracy has not taken a drastic take-off. In economies where economic democracy has been felt employees and other economic stakeholders have distinctive rights to co-determination. This room for involvement of game changing stakeholders in the economy enables unequivocal decision making at the record time to effectively formulate better business trends that jam-starts the economic growth. Social democrats further propose mixed economy. This is against the excessive capitalism to help reduce and likely manage inequality, poverty and total avoidance of oppression to individuals or groups. Though they are against a fully planned economy or a free market, this group of scholars is proponents of the policies like universally accessible to public services. We witness Julie can’t afford to take her daughter, Leanne to the college where other posh kids go. This disparity of inequality is addressed by the social democrats that when public services are made universally accessible there will be no kid that feel unfit to interact and join the institution with any other kids from affluent background as well Sociological imagination towards appreciating social division The understanding and the resultant appreciation of sociology to the relevance of Slinger’s family case study is essentially imperative as critical analysis is deduced. Effective implementation of social workers’ concept and resolutions for enhancing the quality of lives in a society is comparatively an area that focus should be based on. A focus of critical resolutions that sort to solve the social problems not just for now but for a long-term basis. Sociological imagination would involve application of imaginative thought to questioning and seeking answers for the sociological unraveled issues. Sociologist C. Wright Mills defines sociological imagination as “…the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society.” Sociological imagination enables one to fit himself away from the familiar routine of his personal experience with daily life. The sociological imagination is also the capacity to see how sociological issues play out due to how difference in individualism in terms of their places in given historical or social circumstances. The differences can in terms of race, tribe, religion, age, gender and even political affiliations. It circumnavigates the course and cause of the sociological issues (Miller, 1999). Furthermore the sociological imagination enables individual to see things on a social aspect, their interaction and influence on each other. The call for from individuals to divert from the obvious way of doing things to a wider context alternative and an understanding of the interconnections that constitutes the fabric of human society. It is noted that things we do are shaped by the circumstances we are in, our values, the way natives around us act, and how that all relates to various sort of outcome. Consequently, the Sociological Imagination can be regarded as the capacity to see things interactively, in the perspective of personal and the societal limits, rather than from the slim lens of personal experience. Sociological Perspectives Explanation Of: Marxism The analysis of societal issues basing the arguments to societal conflict and class relations to materially achieve development and social transformation. Marxist applies the method of socio-political and economic enquiry in critique of capitalism and the impact of class struggle in systematic economic revolution. They are destined to influence numerous political ideologies and social movements in the society (Hofrichter, 2003). Marxism builds on a materialist recognition of societal development, taking as its ignition point the essential economic activities called for by human society to the provision for its material needs. Social workers on acknowledgement of the essence to create access to basic in an imperative manner to ensure that social problems are at a given level reduced should promote and prioritize projects that are geared towards provision of basic wants. Food security becomes an inevitable task in line to social justice. Marxist advocate for a cut off in the class struggle that makes the private owners to mechanize high productivity for the appropriation of surplus value being called the profit. They would base their argument on the point of social revolution hence socialism-a society principled on common ownership and the rule of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Functionalism Functionalism is the philosophy that what makes something a desire, thought, pain (or any other mental state) doesn’t depends on its internal constitution, but exclusively on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system it is part of. In particular, functionalist theories take the distinctiveness of a mental state to be defined by its causal relations to sensory stimulations, behavior and other mental states (Bingham, 2008) Functionalism is officially neutral in respect to dualism and materialism, though it has been mostly attractive to materialists, since they believe that that it is overwhelmingly likely that any states capable of resulting to the roles in question will be physical states. There are several distinctions on characterization of functionalism; the distinction that functional characterizations of mental states assert to give analyses of the meanings of mental state terms, and the theories that permit functional characterizations of mental states to be of appeal to information deriving from scientific testing or even imagination (Hughes & Coser, 1994: 93-101). Functionalism offers an alternative to behaviorism and identity theory of mind. And it’s concerned with the efficient functions of the brain. Symbolic interaction Also known as the symbolic interactionism is a major structure of sociological theory. It relies on the symbolic meaning people do develop and rely on in the process of social interaction. It entails that individuals act with respect to their interpretation and understanding of the meaning of their world (Wash et al., 2000). The theory of symbolic interactionism analyzes society by addressing the subjective meanings that people impose on behaviors, objects, and events. Subjective meanings are deduced because people behave in line with what they believe but not on what is objectively true. Thus, society is considered to be socially constructed by human interpretation. The social bond is formed through how individuals interpret one another’s behavioral traits. The interpretations are referred to as the “definition of the situation.” It is further argued that people act to things based on the meaning those particular things have for them; the meanings are derived from social interaction and tailored through interpretation. Conclusion Sociological Imagination in Assisting the Social Worker Sociological imagination being the application of imaginative thought towards questioning and answering of the sociological problems in the societies we co-habit in. Further, it is argued that social outcomes are as a result to what we do (Lister, 2010). What we do is pegged on the things people we live around with tend to do, the environment we live in also contributes so immensely on our actions and lastly the situation we live in would trigger some actions of ours. Sociological imagination also relates to the ability to see how things are socially, how these things interact and the influence they impose on other. The resultant outcomes of the things we do is leaning on the social norms –the best people expect to reap from an action; and the social context in which such outcomes are expected (Mason et al., 2008: 311-320) In the Slinger family case study the sociological imagination of the different social injustices that the family is undergoing is relatively imperative. One would meditate and wish that Rushton town could be a town of guaranteed safety and total security. Currently the town hits headlines as the most chaviest and dangerous in Britain. The underlying quest could encounter a stampede on the question of how best can this be attained in such a social context. One would imagine of living in a society in which cases like vandalism of structures and institutions that are of vital purpose to our lives be a case of yesterday. But when it is a problem of today the remedy on how to curb such acts are of great significance. High crime level in the Rushton town is an area one wouldn’t fail to give a minute of thought. We witness murder of a 15year old lad that leaves the society very vulnerable and uncertainty to the right to life. The answer on how the agents of such inhuman character are brought to book by the legal authorities remain unanswered. The social worker should agitate for a reformation on the legal and the rule of law for justice to the victims and prevention to similar incidences in the future. The dilapidated houses in the town questions credibility of governing authorities and the strategic short-term plan for the development of the urban areas (Cower, 1999). Every rational being would yearn for a modern highly rated infrastructure for a better living status in the society. The social worker would sort to find solutions to the poor urban housing management, sewerage systems and proper sanitation. The initial reason for the initiation of charity organization and, modern advancement of the social work –which was poverty has not been compromised for other forms of social problems in the society. The family of Slinger is experiencing abject poverty forcing Madam Julie to sell some of her furniture to off-set debts. Actions geared towards poverty alleviation are promptly advocated to such a community for the realization of individual productive contribution to the society and a resultant rise of living standards (keen, 2004: 198). Redress to social immoralities is an action path the social worker should follow to help save the town’s young and energetic youth who indulge in non-ethical behaviors like prostitution as seen in the case when Julie had to go out “on the lane” because she was desperate for money and there was no any other alternative. Community sensitization on the problem of drug abuse should be in the affront of the social work priorities. When Jonny Slinger takes Marijuana constantly to an extent of losing his family, there need to address such issues in this society because it is unfortunate that even the young boys of average of 15years like Callum are victims; the worry is how these will have drastically changed her life to the worse in just a decade to come. Social policies aimed at improving social amenities that are in questionable status should be a point to look into. The town is having less heath facilities and the few they have given substandard services forcing the health visitor to refer Ruby to Children’s Services. Library has closed up leaving the likes of Leanne with desperate alternatives in the quest to education. Why Political Ideologies are Imperative to Welfare Social Policies Social Democracy Just like liberal democracy, social democracy advocates for equality and embrace of values of liberty in the society. The acknowledgement of the factors that create an enabling environment for promotion of social justice and articulation of social policies to improve the living standards of the community dwellers is a key priority in social democracy. A group of some social democrats seek to mitigate the inequality through social arrangements protecting the people from unhealthy consequences of a market society. The town of Rushton experience high level of inequality as the family of Slinger is seen living in abject poverty. The social democracy political ideology would rather help in providing some solutions to the attainment of social justice. Liberal Individualism Human beings are individuals having rights. The doctrine of liberal individualism protects propertied interests and defends against abuse from authority. Freedom is the key aspect in this doctrine. The campaign of the freedom to associate and speech forms the building blocks for a projected release from the bondage of societal injustices. Formulation of groups that debate issues affecting the community is missing in the Rushton town. Avenues to find solutions to our own problems through dialogue, and consultative and inclusive decision making make the public feel obliged to the decisions made and would work to achieve that. Fascism Authoritarian collectivism is the base at which fascism is pegged. Individual is meaningless. 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