Theories enable us to think clearly about our goals and allows us to work within a structured framework. Issues of social justice and fairness is an ongoing debate in higher education, increasing student participation and widening participation is crucial in this research to show how this plays itself out the social justice terrain. Drawing on various theories (discussed below) allows for conceptualizing the framework for the research.
John Rawls is widely regarded as one of the most important political philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. He is primarily known for his theory of justice as fairness, which develops principles of justice to govern a modern social order. Rawls' theory provides a framework that explains the …show more content…
In particular Young and Fraser are more suited the needs of social justice in education. Young does not put too much focus on distribution of resources but states that two social conditions are also necessary namely: oppression and domination. This notion is very applicable to the higher education context. Fraser on the other hand feels that Rawl’s distributive justice is too narrow. She maintains that justice as recognition and justice as representation should be accommodated in the theory of social justice. For …show more content…
Walker (2006) proposes a "capability-based" theory of social justice based on the work of Amartya Sen (1992), arguing that economic growth should not be the key measure of the quality of a person's life. According to Sen (1992), "in the capability-based assessment of justice, individual claims are not to be assessed in terms of the resources or primary goods the persons respectively hold, but by the freedoms they actually enjoy to choose the lives that they have reason to value" (as quoted in Walker, 2006, p. 164). Therefore, this approach draws heavily on the concept of freedom, and in particular, the freedom to choose what one wants to be and
John Rawls is widely regarded as one of the most important political philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. He is primarily known for his theory of justice as fairness, which develops principles of justice to govern a modern social order. Rawls' theory provides a framework that explains the …show more content…
In particular Young and Fraser are more suited the needs of social justice in education. Young does not put too much focus on distribution of resources but states that two social conditions are also necessary namely: oppression and domination. This notion is very applicable to the higher education context. Fraser on the other hand feels that Rawl’s distributive justice is too narrow. She maintains that justice as recognition and justice as representation should be accommodated in the theory of social justice. For …show more content…
Walker (2006) proposes a "capability-based" theory of social justice based on the work of Amartya Sen (1992), arguing that economic growth should not be the key measure of the quality of a person's life. According to Sen (1992), "in the capability-based assessment of justice, individual claims are not to be assessed in terms of the resources or primary goods the persons respectively hold, but by the freedoms they actually enjoy to choose the lives that they have reason to value" (as quoted in Walker, 2006, p. 164). Therefore, this approach draws heavily on the concept of freedom, and in particular, the freedom to choose what one wants to be and