Social justice as a concept has a long history and has been associated with ideas of such philosophers as Emmanuel Kant, John Locke and Adam Smith. The concept is complex and contested and has diverse meanings and understandings. The various definitions reflect the notions of differ- ent theorists and philosophers about social justice and approaches that can be employed to achieve it. Goldfarb and Grinberg (cited in Hlalele 2012, p. 112) for instance, define social justice as “the exercise of altering institutional and organisational arrangements by actively engaging in reclaiming, appropriating, sustaining, and advancing inherent human rights of equity, and fairness in social, economic, educational and per- sonal dimensions”. Asthana, Halliday and Gibson (2009, p. 204), on the
other hand, define social justice as “the entitlement of individuals and groups to fair and equal rights and participation in the full range of eco- nomic, social, political and legal opportunities”.
Although the above definitions reflect different emphases, they high- light the main principles of social justice, namely merit, equity and equal- ity. Smith (2018) considers these principles to be central to the quest for a just world.
Generally, education and schooling are viewed as tools for promoting social justice and key to moderating social inequalities, reducing poverty and promoting social mobility, resulting in a fair and just society. Social justice in the context of education is defined as the extent to which schools demonstrate and pursue commitment to equity and other social justice practices, increased access, and participation for disadvantaged children and groups (Tjabane and Pillay 2011). Hence, social justice is a central concept in education policies and practice.
Several conceptions of social justice have emerged over time but only two models (distributive justice and recognitive justice) are focused on in the chapter to illustrate the social justice dynamics in rural education.
The most dominant conception of social justice has been distributive jus- tice. The model is associated with the liberal tradition which views justice as fairness. John Rawls, one of the contemporary proponents of distribu- tive justice, argues for an egalitarian notion of social justice as a way of moderating social inequalities (Rawls, as cited in Gewirtz 2006). This entails equal distribution of materials and social goods (or benefits of society) except where the unequal distribution is to the advantage of those who are less privileged (Rawls, as cited in Wang 2016). From this perspective, social justice is realised when public resources are directed to the socially and economically disadvantaged in society and education is a primary social good to be redistributed. In this model, the state plays a crucial role in guaranteeing the redistribution or in making the goods accessible to all.
The distributive model of social justice has significantly shaped educa- tion policy in many countries. However, the model has been criticised for being restrictive and reducing issues of social justice, rights and power to the simple allocation of material goods (Young 2000); not adequately focusing on historical sources of inequalities; and being more concerned
with individual issues than those affect society at large (Gewirtz 2006).
Furthermore, it has been noted that proper distribution of benefits and burdens among educational sites is challenging and that it is problematic to apply models based on distribution of material goods to non-material goods such as self-respect, honour and opportunity (Taylor 2013), thus suggesting a need for a wider conception of social justice.
A more radical conception of social justice, recognitive justice, is advanced by Young (2000) and Fraser (1995). The perspective builds on the liberal and conservative notions of social justice. Both theorists regard the concept to be broader than distribution. Young (2000) advocates for a shift from the dominant distributive dimension which she views as being limited to a plural framework of social justice that includes recog- nition and participation. Recognition in this conception of social justice is defined as an absence of cultural domination, non-recognition and disrespect in interactions among groups and individuals (Gewirtz 2006, p. 74). According to Cuervo (2018, p. 3), the plural justice proposed by Young is ideal “in educational settings in which not all subjectivities are respected and empowered due to individuals or social groups not fitting in with the hegemonic discourse of the school and community”. Fraser (1995), on the other hand, argues for a framework of justice that com- bines economic redistribution, cultural recognition and parity of partici- pation for tackling injustice or oppression and exclusion. She contends that social justice action in contemporary society demands both distribu- tion and recognition measures. In her view, both these aspects contribute to the creation of inequalities and for that reason remedies for injustice should involve both economic distribution and cultural recognition. The parity of participation dimension is based on the notion that social jus- tice requires the dismantling of deep-rooted obstacles that hinder some people from fully participating on equal footing with others in social dealings and which foster marginalisation and exclusionary practices (Fraser, as cited in Gewirtz 2006). The inclusion of three dimensions in one framework provides a holistic approach to social justice and tackles the various forms of injustice that emanate from lack of cultural recogni- tion, maldistribution of social goods and linguistic/social misrepresenta- tion (Wang 2016). The framework touches on several issues that are relevant to education, for example, inequality, identity, multiculturalism,
and cultural politics and is in this respect consistent with the role of schools in remediating social injustices for the disadvantaged (Cuervo 2018).
The notions of social justice discussed above highlight some of the debates relating to the concept and its application to education. It is gen- erally acknowledged that the application of the concept to education is problematic. The challenges emanate from the fact that there is no con- sensus about what constitutes social justice (Clark 2006); and that the concept is usually oversimplified in policy documents and assumptions are often made about there being a common understanding of what social justice is. This may lead to the inequalities experienced by different social groups and individuals in schools being disregarded (Cuervo 2012).