Justice

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 Topics To be Discussed
Concepts and Types of Justice

Theories of Justice

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 Concept Of Justice
❑ The term "justice" is derived from the word "just", which means
"appropriate", "proper" and "fair".

❑ When a treatment is accorded to a person in proportion to what he

deserves, he can be said to be treated in a just way.

❑ For instance, when a labourer is asked to work and paid wage equal to
the market value of his physical productivity, the payment is based on
justice.

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 Concept Of Justice
❑ Justice is something which can be regarded as reasonable on both moral and empirical grounds. Justice is a
normative social order. It is a form of righteousness.

❑ Absolute justice is divine and is difficult to achieve in the real world. In the actual practice, we come across
what is known as relative justice.

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 Types of Justice

Procedural Commutative Compensator Retributive Communitari Distributive

Justice Justice y Justice Justice an Justice Justice

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 Procedural Justice

❑ There may be justice in an act. However, what is

important is to see whether that action has
been performed complying to the law or
through a correct procedure.

❑ For instance, a labourer is asked to do a job but

is forced to accept the terms and conditions
imposed by the employer. Here the procedure is
unjust.

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 Types of Justice

Procedural Commutative Compensator Retributive Communitari Distributive

Justice Justice y Justice Justice an Justice Justice

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 Commutative Justice
❑ Commutative justice is a form of justice where
fairness or justice is ensured at the beginning and
all people are treated equally. In other words,
people start on the level field.

❑ The background of the people is totally irrelevant in

the case of commutative justice.

❑ Commutative justice also ensures that all people are

given equal opportunities for development.

❑ Further, the fairness of exchange between two or

more parties involved is of prime consideration.

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 Types of Justice

Procedural Commutative Compensator Retributive Communitari Distributive

Justice Justice y Justice Justice an Justice Justice

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 Compensatory Justice
❑ In the case of compensatory justice, some compensation is given to the person who has been treated
unequally in the past.

❑ Compensation for the injustice done in the past must be proportional or equivalent to the loss sustained
by an individual in question. But, in many cases, it is difficult to assess the appropriate amount of financial
compensation.

❑ For instance, if somebody has lost his hand while working in a factory, what would an accurate
compensation be? The payment of a particular amount sanctioned by the factory or by a legal institution
may not take into account his all-round incapability, social stigma and future losses in the absence of his
hand.

❑ However, in the present social system, some amount of compensation is granted, depending not on the
requirements of the loser but on the capability of the person giving the compensation.

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 Compensatory Justice
❑ Sometimes the compensation may be give for a prolonged
period.

❑ This may lead to reverse injustice.

❑ For instance, the granting of some special favour to

backward classes or castes for a very long time may mean
injustice to higher castes or classes of people.

❑ This may create reverse injustice to these classes and

castes.

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 Types of Justice

Procedural Commutative Compensator Retributive Communitari Distributive

Justice Justice y Justice Justice an Justice Justice

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 Retributive Justice
❑ This ensures some form of punishment to a defaulter. The
imposition of fines or penalties, however, may not be adequate
or just in a particular situation.

❑ Sometimes, the punishment may be more than what is needed

and sometimes, it may be less than what is necessary.

❑ There is no objective criterion to impose just punishments in

several cases, whether it is fixed by the court of law or done by
a particular person to whom wrong has been done.

❑ The basic purpose of retributive justice is to prevent the person

from doing similar type of unjust work in the future.

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 Types of Justice

Procedural Commutative Compensator Retributive Communitari Distributive

Justice Justice y Justice Justice an Justice Justice

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 Communitarian Justice
❑ This refers to a system of justice shown to a particular community which has been suffering in the past from
injustice (say, the tribal people in Australia).

❑ Therefore, communitarian justice will imply that these people are given some rights and liberties which
may be political or economic in nature.

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 Types of Justice

Procedural Commutative Compensator Retributive Communitari Distributive

Justice Justice y Justice Justice an Justice Justice

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 Distributive Justice
❑ Distributive justice is very critical for human society as
a whole. The basic idea of distributive justice is to
treat equal people equally and unequal people
unequally.

❑ The principle of distributive justice upholds the view

that the benefits and burdens in a society must be
distributed equally among its members.

❑ However, there may arise a situation where the

resources to be distributed are limited compared to
the number of persons sharing these resources.

❑ In such a case, certain principles need to be followed

like first-come-first-served, ladies first or the sick and
disabled people may be given more preference than a
normal person.
 Theories of Justice

Utilitarian Capitalist Libertarian

Socialist Theory
Theory Theory Theory

Gandhian
Egalitarian John Rawls
Marxian Theory Concept of
Theory Theory
Justice

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 Utilitarian Theory
We have already covered it.

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 Theories of Justice

Utilitarian Capitalist Libertarian

Socialist Theory
Theory Theory Theory

Gandhian
Egalitarian John Rawls
Marxian Theory Concept of
Theory Theory
Justice

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 Egalitarian Theory of Justice
❑ This theory is based on equality in the matter of
distribution of burdens and benefits. This is an
important theory of distributive justice.

❑ The theory seems to give importance to absolute

equality. It does not take into account ability, efforts
and need.

❑ Thus, according to this theory, the rich and poor will

get the same benefits and will make the same
sacrifices. This theory has been criticized on many
grounds.

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 Criticism of Egalitarian Theory
❑ Firstly, since human beings are not equal, it is said that the principle of equality is not a just principle. Some
people are more intelligent, more capable and educated than others. Therefore, these people should be
treated in accordance to their ability.

❑ Secondly, it does not take into account the genuine need of people. Some people may need social goods
more than others because of large families or inadequate sources of income. The principle of justice
requires that these people should be given a bit more from the social stock of necessary goods.

❑ Thirdly, if all people are treated equally, there would be no incentive for the hardworking and intelligent
people to produce or achieve more.

❑ However, there is no denying the fact that every person must have equal political rights and opportunities
regarding rights and duties, and everybody must be ensured some basic minimum standard of living

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 Theories of Justice

Utilitarian Capitalist Libertarian

Socialist Theory
Theory Theory Theory

Gandhian
Egalitarian John Rawls
Marxian Theory Concept of
Theory Theory
Justice

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 Capitalist Theory of Justice
❑ The basic principle of Capitalist Theory of Justice is that everybody should receive the benefits according to
his contribution.

❑ Thus, a worker whose productivity is higher will get higher wages than a labourer whose productivity is low.

❑ Capitalist justice favours inequality because inequality leads to differential contribution.

❑ It is based on the assumption that human beings are essentially unequal. Therefore, justice wants
inequality to be accepted as the basis of just reward.

❑ It is sometimes problematic to measure the actual contribution of a factor of production. However, the
productivity of a factor of production can be measured by the market value of its marginal productivity.

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 Capitalist Theory
❑ It neglects the requirements of the people with less abilities and opportunities. The principle of
contribution does not consider the cases of socially disadvantaged or physically handicapped people.

❑ The practice of market valuation of productivity is itself incomplete or imperfect, as market prices are
often distorted by many factors.

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 Theories of Justice

Utilitarian Capitalist Libertarian

Socialist Theory
Theory Theory Theory

Gandhian
Egalitarian John Rawls
Marxian Theory Concept of
Theory Theory
Justice

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