CAPE®

SOCIAL JUSTICE
Presented by
Remone Foster
 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, students should appreciate:

• The concept of social justice

• The main issues of social justice
• The development of social justice in the Caribbean
• Social justice issues in the Caribbean
• Social justice and development in the Caribbean
 ESSAY QUESTIONS
CAPE 2004
Discuss the extent to which the inequitable distribution of wealth in
Caribbean countries can be regarded as a breach of social justice.
(30 marks)

CAPE 2011
“Breaches of social justice hinder development by perpetuating inequality in
Caribbean society.”

Discuss this statement with reference to age and class.

(30 marks)
 SOCIAL JUSTICE
What is social justice?

• Social Justice is based on the premise that all people, regardless of race,
creed, class, age or gender, are entitled to the same basic rights and
freedoms.
• Everyone should have the minimal guarantee to gain access to things or
conditions to make a living or have a comfortable life.

What are the main issues concerned with social justice?

• The main issues relating to social justice are equality and equity.

Why can social justice become complex?

• However, equality and equity are NOT the same, which makes social
justice a complex issue.
• Equality means each individual or group of people within a society is
given the same resources or opportunities. Equity, on the other hand,
recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the
exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
• Social justice requires that we know when equality is necessary and when
equity is needed to ensure equality. Consider the illustration below.
Overall features of Social Justice

1. Individuals and groups are given fair treatment and a just share of the
benefits of society.
2. People are given what they deserve or their fair due.
3. Equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to
meet their needs and wants.
4. Recognition of basic human rights
5. Good standard of living for all through access to basic services such as
health care, education
6. Fair treatment before the law – the rule of law – no one is above the law.

SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE CARIBBEAN

Why is social justice an issue in the Caribbean?

• The historical development of the Caribbean is inconsistent with social

justice.

• The historical experience of Caribbean people is directly opposed to

social justice due to colonialism, plantation slavery, indentureship and
other subtle and indirect ways in which people and groups in Caribbean
society have been oppressed and denied equality and equity.

• Colonial society was repressive and based on principles and practices that
were exploitative, unequal and unjust.

Development of social justice in the Caribbean

▪ Plantation slavery up to the 1830s (1838 for full emancipation in the

British West Indies)
▪ Black people struggled to be viewed as equal in the post-emancipation
period which led to several uprising such as the St. Lucia Riots of 1849,
the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica in 1862, the St. Vincent Riots in
1862, and the Confederation Riots in Barbados in 1876. Workers
demanded access to land and better wages. Other issues such as poor
health care, limited access to political office, poor infrastructures also
influenced these riots.
 ▪ Massive labour protests across the Caribbean in the 1930s which was
triggered by the poor treatment of sugar workers and black people in
general. It was greatly influenced by the Great Depression.
▪ Between 1944 to 1946, Universal Adult Suffrage was introduced in
Caribbean countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad. Other countries
followed suit later.
▪ In 1948, the University of the West Indies was established to give
Caribbean people access to quality education and transformed the way we
think. It gave rise to many of the people who demanded equality in
colonial society and paved the way for independence in the Caribbean
▪ In 1962, Trinidad and Jamaica gained independence and introduced new
Constitutions including Bill of Rights
▪ The Bill of Rights is a chapter in the constitution which outlines and
protects the fundamental rights and freedom of individuals
▪ All independent countries in the Caribbean have a Bill of Rights which is
enshrined/entrenched and protected. This means they cannot be changed
easily. The Constitution is the supreme law and all other laws must
comply with it.
▪ Bills of Rights uphold equality and ensures social justice.
▪ Citizens have the power to redress any infringement of his/her
constitutional rights in the Courts.

Social justice issues in the Caribbean

(a) Racial discrimination

✓ plantation slavery up to the 1830s which saw the enslavement of
black people who were tortured on plantations
✓ discrimination of blacks in the post-emancipation period up to the
1930s
✓ racial tensions between the Asians, blacks and whites during the
post-emancipation people – blacks accused Asians of stealing jobs
and wages
✓ Asians discriminated against blacks for being former slaves and
were willing to assimilate with whites
✓ maintenance of whites at the top of Caribbean society because they
controlled the means of production (wealth)
✓ Started to change in the 1940s with the gravitation of blacks to
political power and educational opportunities
 ✓ By the 1960s with the independence of the Caribbean, black people
rose to power and started implementing policies to benefit black
people in general

(b) Discrimination among minorities

✓ minorities in the Caribbean include indigenous people, Maroons,
Rastafarians and homosexuals (people of the LGBTQ community)
✓ started since the period of colonialism with the encomienda system
which saw the decimation of the indigenous people in the Greater
Antilles
✓ descendants of indigenous people are only found in a few
Caribbean countries, e.g. Dominica, Guyana, St. Vincent, Belize
✓ discrimination of the Rastafarians in the 1930s – persecuted by
colonial authorities – often times they were still discriminated
against in Jamaican society despite their massive contribution to
the cultural development of Jamaican society
✓ minorities such as the Maroons in Jamaica have to constantly assert
their rights against the Jamaican government
✓ The presence of laws that are discriminatory against people of the
LGBTQ community

(c) The elderly

✓ poor treatment of people in their old age
✓ lack of sufficient pension schemes to assist old people
✓ dependency on family members in their old age
✓ becoming more of an issue due to the increase in old people in
Caribbean society – Caribbean people are living longer because of
increased life expectancy and better medical treatment
✓ caribbean governments do not seem to take the emergence of an
elderly population serious and little or no policies are being
implemented

(d) The disabled

✓ little or no laws available to protect disabled people
✓ disabled people are almost always dependent on family members
for survival and are subjected to ill-treatment and abuse
✓ little or no access to wealth
✓ discrimination within the workplace and little laws to protect them
from being overlooked or dismissed
 ✓ underpaid in the workplace
✓ little or no facilities in public buildings for the disabled, e.g., lack
of wheel chair ramps in business establishment, on public transport
etc.
✓ financial burden and little access to wealth
(e) Street people/vagrants
✓ Subjected to abuse and scorn from the general public
✓ Little assistance from government agencies
✓ Most of these people resort to crime and violence to survive
✓ Little access to wealth and employment opportunities
✓ Might have to resort to degrading activities such as prostitution etc
✓ Most of these people suffer from mental illnesses and are
abandoned by family

(f) HIV/AIDS victims

✓ Subjected to job insecurity and discrimination in the workplace
✓ Limited access to health care and privacy
✓ Health is compromised because of limited access to quality
medicine and quality food
✓ Mostly prevalent among women which show the disadvantaged
position of Caribbean women who are often times dependent on
men or have limited opportunities
✓ Affect about 30% of Caribbean people and is increasing
significantly
✓ Prevalent against homosexual or MSM which is a concerning issue
in the Caribbean society which has historically been discriminatory
to them

(g) Children
✓ Rights of children
✓ Access to quality education
✓ Victims of domestic violence – even if they are not victims, they
are the ones who are most likely to suffer from the breakdown of
the family and from living in an unhealthy environment
✓ Child abuse is a cultural thing in the Caribbean where most people
do not recognize it or see it as detrimental which causes it to be
more prevalent
(h) Delay of execution – death penalty

✓ Delayed justice for people and people who are accused

✓ Death penalty still remains on the law books in many Caribbean
society although it is hardly used
✓ Caribbean governments have yet to fully recognize the inhumanity
and degradation of a delayed death penalty
✓ Position in a famous case – Pratt & Morgan v Regina – in which
the Privy Council made it clear that if a person is given a death
sentence it must be done sooner than later. Typically after 5 years,
it would no longer be legal to execute. The delay renders it
unlawful.

(i) Class discrimination and wealth inequality

✓ Caribbean developed into a class society since the 1970s – Carl
Stone (1970) did a survey in the 1970s in Jamaica and people
identified themselves based on class rather than gender or race
✓ Class is associated with the unequal distribution of wealth in
Caribbean society
✓ People of poor-socio economic background are subjected to
intergenerational poverty
✓ Limited social mobility because of limited access to wealth and
educational opportunities
✓ Women are still subjected to poverty and low standards of living
because of their gravitation towards lower income employment
✓ Members of the middle and upper class has better access to health
care, educational opportunities, quality food and so on.

(j) Gender Inequality

✓ Still an issue in Caribbean society, however, it is often times
masked because women are gravitating more towards education
and employment opportunities
✓ Women have limited roles in politics
✓ Women play little role in the creation of policies and do not have
much influence on committees and organizations that create
policies
✓ Discrimination in the workplace which see women being paid less
for equal work
✓ Careers are usually disrupted because of domestic violence, child
care, pregnancies etc.
 (k) Police brutality
✓ Affects people of poor-socio economic background
✓ Poor communities are more likely to be monitored for crime and
violence
✓ Men are more likely to be harassed than women because women
are stereotyped to be law abiding citizens.
✓ Lead to corruption especially because police officers who engage
in police brutality are likely to be bribed or distort what happened
to cover their brutality

Social Justice and development in the Caribbean

• Social justice is a non-economic indicator of development

• People are the ends and means of development and so social justice issues
must be considered in the context of human development
• Development cannot be true if people do not experience equity and
equality
• Human development is predicated on equity, equality and inclusiveness
• The development of the Caribbean may be hindered due to social justice
issues because:

(a) It undermines productivity when some people are treated unfairly,

e.g., wage discrepancies between men and women which demotivate
women and prevent the best people from getting a job.
(b) It prevents people from becoming educated and created obstacles in
the educational system.
(c) It reduces the quality of living for many people, e.g., wheel chair
ramps, special schools or buses are not provided for disabled people
(d) Workers in low paying jobs are unable to improve their housing or
standards of living
(e) Widens the gap between the rich and the poor which manifest its ill-
effects during times of crisis e.g., the corona virus pandemic has
shown us the difficulties of poor people to survive.
(f) Undermines the democratic rights of some people, especially people
of poor socio-economic background who do not usually have the
means to seek redress in the Courts