Practical Justice: Principles, Practice and Social Change

Book excerpt: This volume engages with questions of justice and equality, and how these can be achieved in modern society. It explores how theory and research can inform policy and practice to bring about real change in people’s lives, helping readers understand and interrogate patterns and causes of inequality, while investigating how these might be remedied. Chapters outline ways in which theories of justice inform and are factored into effective actions, programmes and interventions. The book includes an international selection of case studies. These range from global inequalities in development and health to cross-border conflict; from gender justice to disability violence; from child protection to disability-inclusive research; from illicit drug use to torture prevention; and from prison wellbeing to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Together, contributors explore: how social science and humanities scholarship can lead to a better understanding of, and capacity to respond to, key social issues and problems the importance of normative reflection and a concern for principles of justice in pursuit of social change the importance of community voice and grassroots action in the pursuit of justice, equity and equality. Envisioning a better world – in which concern for the just treatment of all trumps the pursuit of privilege and inequality – Practical Justice: Principles, Practice and Social Change will appeal to students and academics in disciplines as diverse as philosophy, political science, sociology, anthropology, geography and education, and in fields such as policy studies, criminology, healthcare, social work and social welfare.