Freedom Versus Equality: Where Does Justice Lie (From Interrogating Social Justice: Politics, Culture and Identity, P 1-22, 1999, Marilyn Corsianos and Kelly Amanda Train, eds. -- See NCJ-192061)

• NCJ Number: 182062
• Author(s): Marilyn Corsianos
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Canadian Scholars Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

This analysis of the concept of justice considers the need to explore justice in relation to an analysis of freedom and equality, with emphasis on how the discourse on freedom limits the possibilities for equality and the extent to which the discourse on equality reduces the attainment of freedom to a minimum.

Abstract

The author notes that today’s society reflects Plato’s principle of justice as the interest of the stronger and not Aristotle’s concept of justice as equality. The discussion also notes that the public and the criminal justice system focus on identifiable crimes such as bank robberies, but not on corporate crimes and white-collar crimes. The discussion also argues that the concepts of freedom and equality are antithetical. Therefore, it is possible to determine what constitutes justice only after placing certain values on various degrees of freedom and equality. The author concludes that social justice is possible only through a society with equal access to social and material resources. 21 references