ABSTRACT
A concern for social justice inspires action, not because it is attainable in the sense of an Enlightenment-style goal but because, as Choules (2007, 463) suggests, it engages the ‘optimism of the spirit’. With this optimism of spirit we seek improvements to the material, psychological, spiritual and social lives of disadvantaged groups towards a just society. To do this, we must understand the reasons for social inequality, the ways in which the causes manifest themselves, and possible means of ameliorating or shifting them.
