In Western countries, in recent decades, politicians have used the word Social Justice extensively as an essential project of modern societies, a cornerstone of modern Western society. But how is the meaning of this attractive but clear serum defined? A politician pursuing a career in politics will answer that social justice as a condition is the necessary policy to combat economic and social inequalities affecting vulnerable groups in society.
According to a report by UN experts (The Social Justice in An Open World-The International Forum of Social Development-https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/ifsd/SocialJustice.pdf), the term social justice is being answered in a broader content that ultimately covers all social groups and not just the most vulnerable of them. According to this definition, social justice consists of a fair, impartial and at the same time sensitive distribution, the redistribution of the fruits of economic development.
Based on this definition, justice, that is, the redistribution of goods based on value, emerges as equal to the humanitarian idea of Social Solidarity. In other words, a society is not enough to take care of the protection of its vulnerable groups, taking measures to strengthen Public Health, Public Education, social security, social welfare, etc.
On the contrary, the primary task of this society is also to ensure the meritocratic equality of opportunities at the educational and professional level and to support with substantial measures those of its members who are worthy in a field and possessed by the desire to pursue a successful career. .
Such policies may be related to generating more comments of excellence, providing wider scholarships to talented young men and women, and securing an initial working capital for their first professional steps. However, measures aimed at promoting meritocracy also play an important role in promoting meritocracy, in particular in reducing undeserved recruitment and in the fight against corruption in the procurement of public works.
From antiquity, the famous Greek philosophers such as Plato in his work “Republic” and Aristotle in his work “Nicomachean Ethics” analyzed with unshakable arguments how there can be justice based on the redress of injustices and highlight the personal value of each, while in the 20th century the corresponding debate culminated in the level of political philosophy when John Rols and Robert Nozick crossed their arguments as to what should be given priority in the distribution of goods and burdens.
However, today it is becoming clear that social justice must be based equally on the two elements that make it up, namely social solidarity and meritocratic justice.
In this form, social justice is not just an essential project, but perhaps the ultimate ideal of our current political system, that is, of so-called social liberalism. However, constant vigilance of the current political leadership is required, so that the “dosage” of these two elements of social justice responds flexibly and without injury to the needs formed by the historical circumstances of each era.
