Watch Episodes - Justice with Michael Sandel.
Economics and Economic Justice. First published Fri May 28, 2004; substantive revision Wed May 30, 2012 Distributive justice is often considered not to belong to the scope of economics, but there is actually an important literature in economics that addresses normative issues in social and economic justice. A variety of economic theories and approaches provide many insights in these matters. Presented below are the theory of inequality and poverty measurement, welfare economics, the theory of social choice, the theory of bargaining and of cooperative games, and the theory of fair allocation.
There has been a good deal of cross-fertilization between these different branches of normative economics and philosophical theories of justice, and many examples of such mutual influences are exhibited in this article. 1. Economics and Ethics The role of ethics in economic theorizing is still a debated issue. 1.1 Positive vs. 1.2 Normative Economics and Political Philosophy 2. 2.1 Indices of Inequality and Poverty 3. Fairness and the Social Contract | Peter Corning. It seems that fairness is an idea whose time has come.
True, some cynics view fairness as nothing more than a mask for self-interest. But the cynics are wrong. One of the important findings of the emerging, multi-disciplinary science of human nature is that humans do, indeed, have an innate sense of fairness. We regularly display a concern for others' interests as well as our own, and we even show a willingness to punish perceived acts of unfairness. The accumulating scientific evidence for this distinctive human trait, which is reviewed in my new book, suggests that it has played an important role in our evolution. It has served to facilitate and lubricate the close-knit social organization that has been a key to our success as a species. Among other things, the evidence for this trait includes anthropologist Donald Brown's finding, reported in his landmark study, Human Universals, that altruism, reciprocity, and a concern for fairness are cultural universals.
The Injustice of Social Justice - Ben O'Neill. Every once in a while, something comes along that perfectly encapsulates the idea of so-called "social justice" in action. For all the wonderful critiques that have been written about this wretched concept by its many detractors,[1] none quite match the elegant simplicity of a recent work by some of its advocates.
I am referring here to a recent video made for the World Day of Social Justice[2] in which students and teachers complete this sentence: Everyone has the right to _____. The video is a colorful montage of possible completions to this sentence, set to some pleasant easy-listening music. It shows students and teachers completing the above sentence, showing their answers written on their hands, arms, and feet. The people in the video give answers consisting of all manner of desirable things, from knowledge, justice, love, compassion, and truth to healthcare, education, food, clean water, nutrition, shoes, dancing, rock-and-roll, and even lollipops and ice cream. Notes. Family Inequality. The World, Inequality: The gap widens, again (The Economist) Colonialism. 1. Definition and Outline Colonialism is not a modern phenomenon. World history is full of examples of one society gradually expanding by incorporating adjacent territory and settling its people on newly conquered territory.
The ancient Greeks set up colonies as did the Romans, the Moors, and the Ottomans, to name just a few of the most famous examples. Colonialism, then, is not restricted to a specific time or place. Nevertheless, in the sixteenth century, colonialism changed decisively because of technological developments in navigation that began to connect more remote parts of the world. The difficulty of defining colonialism stems from the fact that the term is often used as a synonym for imperialism. The confusion about the meaning of the term imperialism reflects the way that the concept has changed over time. 2. The Spanish conquest of the Americas sparked a theological, political, and ethical debate about the use of military force to acquire control over foreign lands. 3. 4.