The social justice process
Literary theories on social justice suggest that issues of social justice are constantly evolving and sometimes policies that are enacted into law take time before the law can achieve its intended purpose. In his argument, Karl Marx brings about Marxism which tries to explain the social phenomena that takes place in society. The theory is based on the assumption that analyzing the material conditions and economic activities that are required for the fulfillment of people’s needs could help to create better understanding of people and the decisions they make. According to Marxism, the economic organization has a direct influence on social phenomena that exists in the community and this is inclusive of the legal, political and cultural systems as well as the ideologies and aesthetics of the people.
Marx further argues that change is inevitable in society as the material productive forces in society have a tendency to conflict with the existing relations of production. When this occurs, a social revolution takes place and often times, new laws and policies are enacted to enhance the sustainability of the changes introduced in the process (Chambre & McLellan, 2020). A good example of such is the changes that are introduced to govern people after being colonized. Since separation from a superpower takes away some of the material productive forces, new relations of production have to come up to do away with the undesirables and promote peaceful coexistence in society.
Postcolonial theory adds on to Marxist beliefs about the process of change and introduction of new laws and policies as it focuses on the impact that the European colonial rule had in different parts of the world and the changes that have been introduced in countries that have already attained independence. Despite the introduction of new policies and laws that protect people’s rights and freedoms, the history of human interaction cannot be complete without discussing the impact that imperialism and colonial rule had on people in the past (Elam, 2019). The belief that specific races are superior to others is greatly responsible for the existence of racism in today’s society. Resolving such issues therefore requires close analysis of the past so as to determine how events in history shaped up people’s beliefs and attitudes.
While social justice seeks to bring about equality, existence of vices such as racism and gender discrimination only proves that laws and policies simply make the actions illegal or unethical but do not offer immediate solutions to issues that may be considered an injustice (Elam, 2019). Postcolonial theory draws attention to the fact that although some regions are no longer colonized, there still exist traces of colonial authority, practices and beliefs that get in the way of social justice.
Some forms of social injustice continue to exist because social justice sometimes requires people to alter social norms that have existed throughout history. A good example is the concept of gender fluidity that goes against history’s ideology that people identify with the gender they are born to. According to the queer theory however, sexuality is rather fluid and people can associate to sexualities that are opposite of their gender or even identify with both (Thiel, 2018). The theory calls on people to question norms that have already been established in society and substitute them with a new concept of gender fluid.
Queer theory however seeks to distance itself from sexuality and gender as a way to avoid the contradictions that are associated with the two. This is especially because there is a divide in society where some people are against the idea of gender fluidity. The aim is to create awareness on the social injustice that gender fluid individuals face without having to explain norms that form due to people’s preferences rather than the existence of gender fluidity. This allows for social justice to be achieved faster and with lesser restriction from the general public.
References
Chambre H and McLellan T, (2020) “Marxism: Analysis of society” Encyclopedia Britannica, retrieved from, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Marxism/Analysis-of-society
Elam D, (2019) “Postcolonial theory” Oxford Bibliographies, retrieved from, https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190221911/obo- 9780190221911-0069.xml
Thiel M, (2018) “Introducing queer theory in international relations” E-International Relations, retrieved from, https://www.e-ir.info/2018/01/07/queer-theory-in-international-relations/
