Critically evaluate two pieces of evidence relating to a social justice issue.
For each piece of evidence, you are required to answer the following questions:
1. How would you describe/summarise the form and content of this piece of evi-
dence?
2. How does this piece of evidence reflect or relate to an idea or issue of social
justice?
3. What strengths and limitations does this piece of evidence have for gaining an
understanding of the idea or issue you have outlined?
Social justice refers to equality and fairness for all and encompasses the ideas of
how to behave, embodied in laws and institutions that are contested and change
over time to suit changes in society views. Not all will agree with the legal notions of
what is ‘just’ and ‘unjust’, which can cause certain views and the laws that enforce
them to actually lead to injustice and social harm. Struggles for equality have led to
changes in policies and this essay will look at some of the evidence that can be used
to bring about these changes, and demonstrate that whilst statistical data is seen as
more reliable, it is often more powerful when personal experience of inequality is
used alongside.
Firstly this assignment will focus on a piece of quantitative evidence; part of the 2011
census analysis by the Office for National Statistics.
1. This evidence is an expository infographic of data showing the health gap be-
tween social classes 1 through 7, 1 being higher managerial professionals
and 7 representing labourers. The focus of this is on gender, and the best and
worst regions of England and Wales. There is some informative text included
in order to explain the purpose of the study and to add additional information.
, 2. This data seeks to highlight the health gap; the quality of health between the
highest and lowest paid members of society. There is an implication that
richer people are healthier, perhaps due to being able to afford private care.
3. The census does show the obvious problems in society but the information is
based on the opinions of those who took part in the census. Opinion of how
good and bad health is determined is based on subjective responses to cen-
sus regarding individual opinions of personal health. This does not rely on
fixed information such as BMI etc. For example, “It is estimated than an addi-
tional 1.6 million men and 1.8 million women would be assessing their health
as ‘Good’ if they had the same self-assessed health rates as those in the
most advantaged occupations”. So information cannot be taken as an accu-
rate measure of this gap. On the other hand it can be used to argue there is a
gap, but it isn’t possible to use this to comment on how large that gap is in re-
ality. Distributive justice has been criticised by feminists such as Nancy
Fraser, who suggests that social justice is not just about redistribution, but
about recognition as well (Newman & Yeates, pg.: 17). A lack of recognition
and ‘cultural domination’ tend to happen to groups that are already economi-
cally disadvantaged and this in turn can lead to material inequalities. During
apartheid black people were exploited and they experienced extreme poverty.
This poverty, and the poor quality of life it produced, aggravated their exclu-
sion from social groups.
For each piece of evidence, you are required to answer the following questions:
1. How would you describe/summarise the form and content of this piece of evi-
dence?
2. How does this piece of evidence reflect or relate to an idea or issue of social
justice?
3. What strengths and limitations does this piece of evidence have for gaining an
understanding of the idea or issue you have outlined?
Social justice refers to equality and fairness for all and encompasses the ideas of
how to behave, embodied in laws and institutions that are contested and change
over time to suit changes in society views. Not all will agree with the legal notions of
what is ‘just’ and ‘unjust’, which can cause certain views and the laws that enforce
them to actually lead to injustice and social harm. Struggles for equality have led to
changes in policies and this essay will look at some of the evidence that can be used
to bring about these changes, and demonstrate that whilst statistical data is seen as
more reliable, it is often more powerful when personal experience of inequality is
used alongside.
Firstly this assignment will focus on a piece of quantitative evidence; part of the 2011
census analysis by the Office for National Statistics.
1. This evidence is an expository infographic of data showing the health gap be-
tween social classes 1 through 7, 1 being higher managerial professionals
and 7 representing labourers. The focus of this is on gender, and the best and
worst regions of England and Wales. There is some informative text included
in order to explain the purpose of the study and to add additional information.
, 2. This data seeks to highlight the health gap; the quality of health between the
highest and lowest paid members of society. There is an implication that
richer people are healthier, perhaps due to being able to afford private care.
3. The census does show the obvious problems in society but the information is
based on the opinions of those who took part in the census. Opinion of how
good and bad health is determined is based on subjective responses to cen-
sus regarding individual opinions of personal health. This does not rely on
fixed information such as BMI etc. For example, “It is estimated than an addi-
tional 1.6 million men and 1.8 million women would be assessing their health
as ‘Good’ if they had the same self-assessed health rates as those in the
most advantaged occupations”. So information cannot be taken as an accu-
rate measure of this gap. On the other hand it can be used to argue there is a
gap, but it isn’t possible to use this to comment on how large that gap is in re-
ality. Distributive justice has been criticised by feminists such as Nancy
Fraser, who suggests that social justice is not just about redistribution, but
about recognition as well (Newman & Yeates, pg.: 17). A lack of recognition
and ‘cultural domination’ tend to happen to groups that are already economi-
cally disadvantaged and this in turn can lead to material inequalities. During
apartheid black people were exploited and they experienced extreme poverty.
This poverty, and the poor quality of life it produced, aggravated their exclu-
sion from social groups.
