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Distributive Justice. (UPSC CSE Mains 2018 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1)
- A fair and just society fulfils the need of equality, fairness and proper distribution of goods, wealth and services for everyone so that the society runs smoothly. The area of moral philosophy that considers the proper distribution is known as distributive justice. It is also a type of social justice since it concerns equal access to resources and equal rights and opportunities.
- In a society with limited resources, the issue of fair allocation is challenging as well as an issue of multiple debates and contentions. Here, distributive justice acts as a key ethical principle which applies to the provision of social goods. It also involves the evaluations of the fairness of the allocation of resources and the desirable outcomes across people.
- According to Aristotle, distributive justice implies that the state should divide or distribute goods and wealth among citizens according to merit.
- Distributive justice includes issues such as affirmative actions such as recruitments and promotion in government actions, admission to public educational institutions, seats in legislature, welfare, free education and other goods and opportunities and they are distributed amongst the members of the society.
- The goods that one might possess include the following:
- Economic goods such as incomes and property.
- Opportunities for development such as healthcare, sanitation, education, clean water for drinking.
- Recognitions in the society such as honour, job promotions and social status.
- The state should distribute goods, resources and wealth to the people depending on various aspects and distributive norms.
- In his book “A Theory of Justice”, John Rawls introduced a concept of justice as fairness. He held that an adequate amount of justice cannot be derived from utilitarianism, which promotes “the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people”.
- In the presence of enough goods, opportunities and status for everyone in the society, issues of distributive justice are less likely to arise.
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