Routledge International Handbook of Social Justice

One of the ironies of the early twenty-first century is that proponents of diametrically opposed visions of society – secular and religious – march under the banner of social justice. Calls for social justice are used to rationalize the status quo, promote modest reforms, and justify revolutionary, even violent action, and the meaning of social justice has become increasingly obscured as its profile has risen.

In a world where genocide, hunger, poverty, and disease persist and where richer nations often fail to act or act too late, a prerequisite to achieving even modest social justice goals is to clarify the meaning of competing discourses on the topic. This authoritative volume explores what social justice really means and what its attainment would involve. It addresses key issues, such as resolving fundamental questions about human nature and social relationships; the distribution of resources, power, status, rights, access, and opportunities; and the means by which decisions regarding this distribution are made. Illustrating the complexity of the topic, it presents a range of international, historical and theoretical perspectives, and discusses the dilemmas inherent in implementing social justice concepts in policy and practice. Covering more than abstract definitions of social justice, it also includes multiple examples of how social justice might be achieved at the interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal levels.

With contributions from leading scholars around the globe, Reisch has put together a magisterial and multi-faceted overview of social justice. It is an essential reference work for all scholars with an interest in social justice from a wide range of disciplines, including social work, public policy, public health, law, criminology, sociology and education.

Michael Reisch is the Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He has published and presented widely on the history and philosophy of social welfare, social work ethics, community organization theory and practice, the nonprofit sector, and contemporary social policy issues, particularly welfare reform, and the future of the welfare state.