Class 11 Political Science Short Questions with Answers - Social Justice

Q1. What do you mean by social justice?
Ans: The literal meaning of the word justice means to give what is one’s due. It also means that a thing should go to whom it belongs or deserves. In an ancient society of India justice was associated with dharma and morality i.e. to do a thing or not to do a thing. It was also concerned with building and maintaining adjusted the order. Confucius the great Chinese philosopher said that as part of justice kings should maintain justice by punishing wrongdoers and rewarding the virtuous. Plato discussed justice in his famous book Republic as the interest of stronger and fulfillment of each class of the state, its duty in its area of jurisdiction and not to interfere in other’s matters. The idea that justice involves giving his due continues to be an important part of our present-day understanding of the idea of justice.

Q2. How you will explain justice as one’s due?
Ans: The main understanding about justice has been in terms of one’s due in the system. However what is and what ought to be one’s due has been understood differently in different, periods and different societies. Today our understanding of what is due to each person as a human being. According to German philosopher Immanuel Kant, human beings have dignity. If all persons are granted dignity, then the due to each of them is that they have the opportunity to develop their talents and pursue their chosen goals. Justice requires that we give due and equal consideration to all the individual. That is the essence of the concept in terms of one’s due.

Q3. What are the essentials of justice in modern society?
Ans: The idea of justice today has many essentials to constitute the sense of justness. Essential conditions are as under :

• Equal treatment with all
• Fulfillment of essential basic needs
• Impartiality
• Truth
• Honesty.

Q4. What do you mean by distributive justice?
Ans: Distributive justice is based on the modem structure of socio-economic relations of the members of the society. It is based on the hypothesis that there is a number of opportunities’ rewards and benefits in the system. They should be distributed on the basis of the worth and talents of the people. Positions are scattered in the society which should be distributed as per worth. That is the essence of the idea of justice. It also suggests that social goods and social duties are distributed among different members of the society.

Q5. How equality of treatment is essential for justice?
Ans: Equality of treatment is an essential element of the concept of justice. Equality of treatment means that all persons should be treated equally and no discrimination should be made on the ground of caste, color, region, religion, and sex. Equality of treatment is essential because all human beings generally share equal hopes, aspirations and emotions, and feelings. Therefore they need equal respect and behavior for their justiciable development. As a part of the equality of treatment principle, efforts are being made to give equal civic, political, and economic rights in most democratic and liberal societies. Forgiving one’s due, equality of treatment is very much an essential requirement.

Q6. What do you mean by proportionate justice?
Ans: The principle of equality of treatment to all is not absolute as it can be applied everywhere and every time. Only in similar conditions, equality of treatment is feasible and desirable also but in dissimilar conditions neither it is feasible nor it is desirable. For this purpose, there is the principle of proportionate justice which means that rewards and benefits should be on the principle of proportionately i.e. in proportionate.

Q7. How the principle of recognition for special needs is conducive to the concept of justice?
Ans: Justice is generally considered and accepted as a situation giving each person his due. But certain people or class of people have been denied their due place and due claims due to certain physical and environmental factors. In the true earnest of justice, these handicaps are to be removed by fulfilling the special needs of such people or the class of the people. This will be considered a way of promoting justice. The idea behind it is that people with certain disabilities of different kinds deserve special help and consideration for the sake of justice.

Q8. How does the reservation help in social justice?
Ans: Reservation is an effort to do justice to the people, who had suffered injustice in history. It is an effort to fulfill the special needs of the people who had been victims of a negative and oppressive socio-economic environment. It is a sort of corrective measure. In a way, it is leveling process. This is done as positive discrimination because to some extent it violates the principle of equality of treatment to all. Its purpose is to establish justice at various levels.

Q9. What is the position of reservation in the Indian Constitution?
Ans: In Indian society large section of the society has been exploited a lot and had suffered injustice at social, economic, and political levels. Mainly scheduled caste people and scheduled tribe people had suffered in Indian society.
Indian Constitution-makers realizing the plight of the exploited class, provided the feature of reservation in employment and parliament and State Legislatures. Its purpose is to harmonize the different class relationships and to promote a just society.

Q10. Give some measures of the Indian Constitution whose purpose is to establish social justice.
Ans: Constitution makers have introduced a number of measures for promoting social justice. Some of them are:

• Fundamental Rights.
• Provision of reservation in employment, educational institutions, and in legislative bodies like Parliament and State Legislature.
• Removal of untouchability.
• Directive Principles of State policy.

Q11. Explain the concept of the veil of ignorance of John Rawls.
Ans: The imagined veil of ignorance is the first step in arriving at a system of fair laws and policies. It suggests that a rational person will not only see things from the perspective of worst off, they will also try to ensure that the policies they frame, should benefit the society as a whole. Therefore it would be in the interests of all that society as a whole should benefit from the rules and policies that are decided not just any particular section. Such fairness would be the outcome of rational action.

Q12. What is John Rawl’s ultimate view of social justice?
Ans: John Rawl’s final analysis of social justice is based on his argument that rational thinking and not morality could lead us to be fair and judge impartially regarding how to distribute the benefits and burdens of society. He concludes that fairness and justice are complementary to each other. Fairness is divorced from morality and over-enthusiasm. It is the rational distribution of benefits and burdens which is the core of social justice.

Q13. How can we decide what are the basic minimum conditions of life needed by people?
Ans: Although norms for the basic minimum conditions may vary from society to society and place to place. But even then some common minimum conditions can be given which are considered necessary for a human being irrespective of his place or society. Various methods of calculating the basic needs of the people have been devised by different national and international organizations at the government level as well as the private level. On the basis of observations of these organizations, it is agreed that the basic amount of nourishment needed to remain healthy, housing, a supply of clean drinking water, education, and a minimum wage would constitute an important part of basic conditions.

Q14. How does a free-market economy affect social justice?
Ans: Supporters of a free-market economy say that as far as possible, an individual should be free in his or her economic pursuits for his/her development which is the essence of justice. They should be free to compete with each other in different areas of life to gain greater benefits and improve the quality of life.
In a free-market economy which is based on open competition, we may get better services and goods of higher quality but the negative aspect is that access to this system will be of a minimum section of the society and a larger section of the society will be deprived of. Hence it will not improve social justice for all.
Q15. What was the proposition of an ideal society according to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar?
Ans: According to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society’.

Q16. Explain the concept of justice.
Ans: Justice has ever been in demand in all ages but the viewpoints about the contents and essentials of justice, demanded and expected by the people have been different, depending on the prevailing socio¬economic environment. In ancient Indian society, justice was associated with ‘dharma’ and maintaining dharma i.e. social order. Justice literally has been understood with the Latin word ‘Jesus’ i.e. just i.e. what is one’s due. In China, the philosopher Confucius argued that kings should maintain justice by punishing wrongdoers and rewarding the virtuous.
Plato in his famous book ‘The Republic’ explains justice in terms of working of three classes of the society in their own areas and not interfering in other’s matters. He considered justice as a condition of harmonious relations among the three classes of the society which are formed corresponding to the three elements of the human soul. In the modem period, it is related to more availability of essential conditions of life on equality and just basis to build a just society.

Q17. Justice is one’s due. Explain.
Ans: Justice has been understood as one’s due i.e. what belongs to him and what a person should get and what place he/she occupies in the society and what share he/she should get. But what should be one’s due and what are the essentials of one share as a matter of justice has been viewed differently in different points of time. To some philosophers, human dignity has been of prime importance. Dignity is related to one’s due. Justice requires that we give due and equal considerations to all individuals.

Q18. How the principle of equal treatment for equals serve the cause of social justice?
Ans: In modern society, the principle of equal treatment for equal is considered to be the essential condition for the realization of social justice. However, it is not easy to calculate, how much a person should get or what exactly is one’s due. For this treating equals equally is considered a necessity. It is considered that all individuals share certain characteristics as human beings. Therefore they deserve equal rights and similar treatment and equal dignified behavior at least in similar conditions.
Besides equal rights, the principle of treating equals equally would require that people should not be discriminated against on grounds of caste, color, race, and gender. A person’s due place in society should be judged on the basis of one’s abilities, talent, words, and actions and not on the basis of class, caste, or group one belongs to. For example, if a male or female worker is performing the same work in a similar situation, both should be given equal wages and no discrimination should be made between male and female workers in terms of wages and behavior only then the cause of justice will be served.

Q19. What do you mean by the idea of proportionate justice?
Ans: Apparently, the principle of equal treatment to all seems to be the ideal and necessary condition for justice but there are frequent situations and circumstances in which we find that treating everyone equally would be unjust. We cannot give equal awards to all those who have appeared in an examination in equal conditions. They will be and ought to be awarded on the basis of performances, which will be certainly unequal. Justice in such a case would mean rewarding people in proportion to the scale and quality of their efforts in similar conditions.

Q20. What is the concept of special needs? How does it serve the cause of justice?
Ans: For the cause of justice in the society identifying and recognizing the special needs of the people is an important situation while distributing rewards and duties among the members of the society. Normally people are treated equally for the sake of justice but there are people in the society who need special care and special needs for justice. However, that may appear unequal treatment. Because some people of the society have some disabilities and could not stand with other people, that society cannot be called as a just society.

People with special needs or disabilities could be considered unequal in some particular respect and deserve special help Physical disabilities, age or lack of access to good education or healthcare are some of the factors which are considered grounds for special needs in different societies of the world.

Q21. Discuss just distribution as necessary for social justice.
Ans: Besides other essential requirements for social justice like equal treatment, honest, fairness, and impartiality, just distribution of goods and services, between individuals, groups, and nations is also a very essential and important requirement to achieve social justice in society. If there are serious social, economic inequalities and disparities in the society it will seriously affect social justice. Therefore within a country, social justice would require not only that people be treated equally in terms of laws and policies of the society but also that they enjoy-some basic equality of living conditions and opportunities. Glaring disparities and inequalities have to be removed for the cause of justice.

Q22. Discuss the John Rawls theory of justice?
Ans: John Rawls in his explanation of the theory of justice gave answers to the questions related to the theory of justice rather than the essentials of justice. John Rawls argues that the only way we can arrive at a fair and just rule is if we imagine ourselves in a situation in which we have to make decisions about the best composition of the society, about knowing our position in that society. Rawls says that if we do not know that situation, options would be available to us in the future society and we will be likely to support a decision about the rules and organization of that future society which would be fair for all the members of the society. Rawls describes fairness and rationality as the very-very essential condition of social justice in any society.

Q23. Describe the idea of ‘veil of ignorance’ as given by John Rawls in his theory of social justice.
Ans: In his theory of social justice, John Rawls imagines a situation of uncertainty about the composition of society and different roles to be given to the different people or the class of the people. He is of the view that that future society would be fair to all. In fact, this uncertain and imaginative situation is referred to by John Rawls as ‘Veil of ignorance’.
He says that it will be the situation of complete ignorance about our possible position and status and role. Each person will behave in terms of their own interests as human beings generally do. Since it is a situation of uncertainty, each will accept the future society from the point of view of the worst off. In this situation, justice will be constituted to see that important resources like education, health, shelter are available to all irrespective of their status in the society. The merit of the veil of ignorance is that it expects people to be just, fair and rational.

Q24. Discuss social justice as the objective of the Indian Constitution.
Ans: Indian society is full of inequalities, disparities, imbalances, and injustice because it has a feudal and colonial past with an exploitative society and economy. The Constitution is proposed to be the instrument of socio-economic change i.e. socio-economic transformation of the society. In this scheme, social justice is the most important cherished value and objective of the Indian Constitution which is mentioned in the preamble of the Indian Constitution. In three areas i.e. social, economic, and political, social justice is given the place of prominence.
To achieve social justice number of features have been added to the Indian Constitution. Indian economy is established on the socialistic pattern for equal distribution of all the resources and fulfillment of minimum common needs of the people and to a built egalitarian society. Special needs of weaker and disadvantaged classes are fulfilled. Reservation is made for the traditionally exploited class like SCs and STs. in employment and educational institution. Social evils like untouchability have been abolished.

Q25. What is an egalitarian perspective? How it can be achieved?
Ans: Egalitarianism is an important and useful perspective to achieve social justice. Egalitarianism means that all the minimum common needs must be accessible to all to lead a decent life. All people should be given an environment in which people could lead a dignified life. There should not be unjustified disparities in different sections of society. Efforts are being made at different levels to determine what are the minima and what are the maxima for an egalitarian society and to achieve social justice.

Q26. How the socialism seeks social justice?
Ans: Socialism was a reaction against capitalism which was an exploitative system based on inequalities and injustices. In capitalism, there was the concentration of the economic resources in few hands which generated disparities and class society. Socialism is a system that seeks to give the economic resources in the collective ownership of the society. Socialist thinkers seek to achieve justice with the principle “from each according to his ability and to each according to his need”. Socialism is based on cooperation and harmonious relations of the different classes of the society. It seeks to fulfill the basic needs of the people and providing a dignified life to all. It seeks to remove the inhuman competition. It wants to promote human values as an essential condition of social justice.

Q27. Describe the features of a free-market economy.
Ans: The market economy is based on the principle that individuals should be free to own property and to express their expertise in areas of their likings and preference without any kind of interference and intervention of any kind. They should be free to compete with each other to gain the greatest amount of benefit. Supporters of a free-market economy believe that if markets are left free of state interference, then the market transactions would ensure overall a just distribution of benefits and duties in society. The meritorious and hard-working people will be rewarded accordingly while the weak, lazy, and incompetent would get a lesser reward. In today’s liberal market economy, some kind of intervention of the state is accepted, for example, the state can decide the common minimum needs for social justice and the dignified life of the common man.

Q28. How the free market economy is helpful in promoting social justice?
Ans: At one time, the market economy was considered as a mechanism of social justice with the development of people’s talent and enterprising spirit without any kind of interference and intervention. It ensures a basic minimum standard of living for all people so that they are able to compete on equal terms. Private agencies should be encouraged to provide such services while state policies should try to empower people to buy those services. Besides this, the state should try only to maintain a framework of laws and regulations to ensure that competition between individuals remains free of coercion and other hindrances. Supporters of this free market system maintain that the free market is the basis of a fair and just society. The idea of justice in a free market is that it is concerned with the development of talents and skills of an individual irrespective of his caste, religion, and gender.

Q29. Discuss the merits of a free-market economy.
Ans: One of the most important merits of the free market is that it promotes the merit and skill of man irrespective of caste, color, and gender and it gives the people more choice although the free market system gives us more choices as consumers.
The second important merit of the free market is that the quality of services is superior in comparison to government institution’s services.
Another important argument in favor of the free-market is the quality of goods which is good in quality and quantity which removes the situations of deficiency and scarcity.

Q30. Give the arguments in favor of State intervention for the promotion of social justice.
Ans: Although there is a number of arguments in favor of a free-market economy show certain negative tendencies also which are violative of the basics of social justice.
Free Market leads to competition and concentration of powers in few hands only which generates the classes-of haves and haves not which creates the situation of injustice.
To check this inhuman competition and concentration of resources in few hands only, the state intervention is considered useful and desirable to create balances for social justice. State intervention will ensure that basic facilities are made available to all the members of society. The state acts as an arbiter in the matter of management of the resources and their fair distribution for the promotion of social justice.

Q31. How a democratic framework is more favorable for social justice?
Ans: The democratic framework of society’ and policy is considered more conducive for the availability of social justice because it tends to respect human dignity and seeks to improve the quality of life by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of minimum basic needs for the people.
In a democratic society, disagreements about issues of distribution and justice are inevitable and even healthy but with healthy discussion and debates, the rational and just decision emerges which ensures the just and rational relationship among the people which is an essential condition for social justice. In autocratic and dictatorial society, social justice becomes the first casualty.