W5A1 Justice and Society Joni Montoya South University Online What is a just society? To live peacefully within a society there must be a social contract agreed to by all in the society. Agreement is implied by actually living in the community. If there is disagreement, the individuals should be free to leave the community. Is there such a thing as a just society? There are seven basic questions that need to be addressed: 1. Questions of justice a. Distributive justice b. Retributive justice 2. Questions of law 3. Questions of public interest 4. Questions of duty 5. Questions of rights 6. Questions of freedom 7. Questions of power and influence These are the basic questions that need to be answered in order to form a just society. The first …show more content…
I would incorporate the “veil of ignorance” theory when creating rules for my society (Chaffee, 2014, p.531). Justice should be meted out equally to all regardless of gender, race or culture. Everyone in my just society would agree to the social contract, or get out, they would be free to leave if they wish. There would be appropriate punishment for crimes according to severity, equal opportunity for education and housing, and equal access to healthcare. Anyone would have the opportunity to question unjust laws and be able to rise to the governing class by consent of the population. There would be a safety net for the unfortunate citizens and the government would have limited powers concerning local matters unless the matters could potentially impact the entire society. Higher education would be free to all who could pass the entrance exams. I would have programs to feed all of the hungry and housing for the homeless, and I would change many of the drug laws, especially for marijuana, which studies suggest is not as harmful as suspected. It is now being prescribed for a number of ailments, including cancer (Tracy, 2014). I would also have facilities to care for the mentally ill, who are still part of the social contract. I would probably have a self-sufficiency mandate for my citizens so that we would not be dependent on other …show more content…
Communism is defined as a social organization in which everyone in a given society receives an equal share of the benefits derived from labor (Hoyt, 2014). In Communism the poor can attain financial and social status equal to the wealthy by redistribution of resources. Nobody can own anything because the state owns everything. This would mean that no matter how much a person strives to attain status and wealth, they can never be better than anyone else. Hard work and laziness would achieve the same result because the benefits achieved by the hard workers would be redistributed to the lazy ones. This would take away incentives to do