ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a starting point to explore the concept of justice. It considers how both concepts have emerged and evolved over time, and provides contemporary and historical examples of how they have been realized in our society and how people have sometimes fallen short. There are many ways to understand the different aspects of justice; one useful approach is to categorize justice into discrete types. Government can sometimes be ill-equipped to produce social justice, and, at times, laws can even codify injustice. Pursuing justice requires that the perspective of marginalized people be considered and that they be given a voice. Without this approach, injustice will not be fully seen or challenged. Studying justice also requires acknowledging our own ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism entails thinking normatively, or thinking within the confines of our own values, experiences, and perspectives without taking into consideration the perspectives of others.