1.      “I think that it’s a shame that the fight for social justice should be completely identified with the left; such that, if we decide that the left has betrayed us because the left is no longer what it should be, or because the left no longer exists, you can’t have social consciousness” (S. Sontag, Conversations with Susan Sontag, 1995, p. 164).

2.      “Born and reared in Peoria, Illinois, Betty Goldstein graduated from Smith College in 1942, already well versed in left-wing ideals of social justice and economic equality” (R. Ruth Rosen, The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America, 2000, p. 4).

3.      “For academic radicals who hope to ‘change the world,’ teaching is not a disinterested intellectual inquiry but a form of political combat. The banner of this combat is ‘social justice,’ the emblem that signifies to the post-Communist left the triumph of the oppressed over the oppressors.” (David Horowitz, Indoctrination U: The Left's War Against Academic Freedom, 2009, Kindle Locations 284-285).

4.      “In recent years, and particularly in the English-speaking world, the notion of social justice has come under sustained attack from neo-conservative thinkers. In its conservative and libertarian variants the ‘new right’ both questions the value of social justice and alleges deep-seated problems with the functioning of welfare states.. .  On the other hand, for many on ‘the left,’ who are unconvinced by the new right’s agenda, both social justice and the welfare state must be defended against these attacks” (D. West, “Beyond Social Justice and Social Democracy,” in Perspectives on Social Justice: From Hume to Walzer (1998) (Eds.) D. Boucher and P. Kelly, p. 232).

5.      “Common meaning for equality. Typically among the social classes. Leftist in nature” (UrbanDictionary.com entry for social justice, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=social+justice, accessed Jan. 4, 2012).

6.      “[Social Justice] has now become in common use just a slogan tossed around in the pep rallies of the campus left. It presumably imparts a flavor of righteousness to the daily grievance mongering, but in character it is an anti-intellectual gesture” ( Ashley Thorne and Peter Wood, “A Degree in Agitprop,” Aug. 11, 2008, http://www.nas.org/articles/A_Degree_in_Agitprop, accessed July 14, 2012).  

7.      “The political limits to service-learning reside in the fact that service-learning has a progressive and liberal agenda under the guise of a universalistic practice that fosters an unjustified valorization of the goals of civic engagement and presumes social justice to be based upon a teleological upward movement from charity-based forms of volunteerism toward justice-oriented modes of sustained and collective practice" (Service-learning in Theory and Practice, 2010, p. 108).

8.      “The linkage of service-learning to social justice inherently presumes a dichotomous liberal/conservative spectrum with service-learning meant to function as a mechanism to move individuals from the (political) right to the (social justice) left. This is traditionally described as helping students move from individualistic to structural understandings of societal problems, and from passive acceptance to collective action” (D. Butin, Service-learning in Theory and Practice, 2010, p. 55).

9.      “Service-learning thus finds itself positioned as attempting to deliver a very specific and highly political notion of truth under the guise of neutral pedagogy. Its overwhelming stage theory of moving individuals and institutions from charity-based perspectives to justice-oriented ones in fact maps directly onto our folk theories of what constitutes Republican and Democrat political positions: Republicans believe in individual responsibility and charity, while Democrats focus on institutional structures and social justice” (D. Butin, Service-learning in Theory and Practice, 2010, p. 37).

10.   “Being liberal is something to be very proud of. Over the last 30 years or so, the right wing of this country has managed to bastardize the word. They think it's something to be feared because liberalism equals progress and social justice, and Republicans and conservatives hate progress and social justice. Liberal is not a dirty word. It's not a pejorative” (Janeane Garofalo, “Q&A with Janeane Garofalo,” http://www.inkedmag.com/article/q-janeane-garofalo/, accessed Dec. 14, 2011).

11.   “When the Right gained control of the Republican party, its opponents were frightened and angered by this movement that left the politics of old in ruins. The mentality of the Republican Right seemed unfathomable to those who  believed that social justice, social equality, and social progress were attainable through the action of state power” (D. Critchlow, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism:  A Woman’s Crusade, 2005, pp. 9-10).

12.   “The most common religious viewpoint which might be described as 'left wing' is social justice”(Wikipedia Entry for “Christian Left,” see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_left, accessed June 26, 2012).

13.   “A range of left-wing values vis-à-vis social justice can be traced to Jewish religious texts” (Wikipedia entry for “Jewish left,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_left, accessed June 26, 2012).

14.   “Other common leftist concerns such as pacifism, social justice, racial equality, human rights, and the rejection of excessive wealth can be found in the Bible” (Wikipedia entry for “Left-wing Politics,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics, accessed June 26, 2012).

15.    “Some tenets of social justice have been adopted by those on the left of the political spectrum” (Wikipedia entry for “social justice,” see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice, accessed June 26, 2012).

16.   “It has become increasingly important to examine whether social justice education is a ‘liberal bias’ and ‘leftist propaganda’” (B. Applebaum, “Is Teaching for Social Justice a ‘Liberal Bias’?” Teachers College Record, vol. 111, no. 2, Feb. 2009, pp. 376-408, p. 378).

17.   “The politics of class is the single most common factor dividing Left from Right in Western European political systems, with the former seeking social justice through redistributive social and economic intervention by the State, and the latter committed to defending capitalism and private property” (A. Knapp and V. Wright, The Politics and Government of France, 2001, p. 7).

18.   “Listen carefully to today’s politicians. You will hear the Democrats talk about ‘social justice’ and ‘fairness.’ You will hear the Republicans talk about ‘lower taxes’ and ‘getting the government off our backs” in minor ways, while leaving it untouched everywhere else” (C. Murray, What It Means to Be a Libertarian, 1997, pp. 3-4).

19.   “Although the majority of the students come from fairly conventional backgrounds, they tend to be liberal minded and concerned with social justice. Humbolt State University attracts students who are interested in activism and environmental and social justice. The heart of HSU’s curriculum and programs is a commitment to a healthy and just planet” (T. Souza, “Creating Social Justice in the Classroom” in J. Z. Calderon Ed. Race, Poverty, and Social Justice, 2007, p. 191).

20.   “The Democrats would lose their souls if they ever abandoned their commitment to social justice” (J. Haidt,  “What Makes People Vote Republican” Sept 9, 2008, available at http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/haidt08/haidt08_index.html, accessed Sept 26, 2012).

21.    “Why don’t social justice activists, who are by-and-large academics, present the explicit political nature of social justice? I suggest that it’s because of the movement’s most inconvenient irony: while claiming to fight against oppression, social justice actually perpetrates its own form of oppression by seeking to impose a far-left political agenda on all mental health professionals. Social justice’s most ironic turn, then, is that it seeks to erase difference, impose its values, and proclaim only one standard of ethics” (R. Hunsaker, “Social justice: An Inconvenient Irony,” Counseling Today “OpEd,” April 2008, available at http://sjirony.blogspot.com/2008/09/social-justice-inconvenient-irony.html).

22.   “They [the counselors for social justice] would have to admit that social justice can only be practiced by those on the political far-left” (“Social justice: An Inconvenient Irony,” Counseling Today “OpEd,” April 2008, available at http://sjirony.blogspot.com/2008/09/social-justice-inconvenient-irony.html).

23.   “The mainstream political left, amply represented in psychology, has influenced the definition of social justice in community psychology; however, political philosophers have explicated social justice in vastly different ways, rendering it multivocal. Critical psychology in community psychology has been absent with respect to defining social justice and methods of change, which has led to a dominant bias associated with a liberal worldview. Moreover, social justice has taken on a powerful rhetorical function, implying the ‘goodness’ of the motives and actions of the community psychologist” (“Social Justice in Community Psychology,” p. 286 in Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well Intentioned Path to Harm edited by R. H. Wright and N. A. Cummings, 2005, pp. 283-284).

24.   “‘social and economic justice’ [are] especially imperative as a response to ‘the conservative trends of the past three decades’ . . . Clearly, in the social work profession's catechism, whatever social and economic justice are, they are the opposite of conservatism” (G. Will quoting a textbook in social work, “Code of Coercion,” Washington Post, Oct. 14, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202151.html, accessed Sept. 27, 2012).

25.    “medical schools are now increasingly admitting students based not on competence in the sciences, but rather on their commitment to ‘social accountability.’ Medical school ethics courses are thus increasingly emphasizing ‘social justice’ over traditional notions of ethics — or the individual patient’s welfare. But ‘social justice’ is frequently just a euphemism for a socialist political agenda of leftist politics, redistribution of wealth, and heavy state controls over the marketplace” (P. Hsieh M.D. “The Wisconsin Protests and the New Medical Ethics,” Feb. 21, 2011, http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-wisconsin-protests-and-the-new-medical-ethics/?singlepage=true, accessed Dec. 3, 2011) (emphasis added).

26.   “Although it can be interpreted in quite different ways, the idea of equality or social justice is basic to the outlook of the left. It has been persistently attacked by those on the right” (A. Giddens, The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy, 1999, p. 41).

27.   “The term ‘center-left’ thus isn’t an innocent label. A renewed social democracy has to be left of center, because social justice and emancipatory politics remain at its core” (A. Giddens, The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy, 1999, p. 45).

28.   “Any book with ‘social justice’ in its title will tend to tilt to the left” (L. Sandy: “Book Review: Medicine and Social Justice: Essays on the Distribution of Health Care” The New England Journal of Medicine, 348. 19, May 8, 2003, 1936).

29.   “It is doubtful whether the current critics of the universities who are called ‘conservative intellectuals’ deserve this description. For intellectuals are supposed to be aware of, and speak to issues of social justice. But even the most learned and thoughtful of current conservatives ridicule those who raise such issues. They themselves have nothing to say about whether children in the ghettos can be saved without raising suburbanites’ taxes, or about how people who can earn the minimum wage can pay for adequate housing. They seem to regard discussion of such topics in poor taste” (R. Rorty, Achieving Our Country, 1998, p. 83).

30.     “Mr Santelli’s televised rant against bail-outs has gone down in history as the birth harangue of the tea-party movement, which went on in double-quick time to capture the Republican Party and yank the whole of American politics sharply to the right. Like the Occupy Wall Street crowd, the tea-partiers did not have much by way of detailed policy when they started. That lot wanted to bash big government and restore individual liberty. This lot [the Occupy Wall Street crowd] wants to bash big business and restore social justice. So why can’t Occupy Wall Street become a tea-party movement for the other side, one that might jolt the Democrats out of their torpor, tug them left, and switch back on some of the electricity that Barack Obama generated when he was running for president?" (The Economist, “The Inkblot Protests,” Oct. 8, 2011, http://www.economist.com/node/21531481, accessed Dec. 13, 2011).

31.   “The Left everywhere preserves certain features which are characteristic of the struggle against the Ancien Regime; everywhere it is recognizable by a regard for social justice” (R. Aron, The Opium of the Intellectuals, 1955, p. 24).

32.   “This whole picture is simply inconsistent with the Strict Father morality and the conservative worldview it defines. In that worldview, the class hierarchy is simply a ladder, there to be climbed by anybody with the talent and self-discipline to climb it. Whether or not you climb the ladder of the wealth and privilege is only a matter of whether you have the moral strength, character, and inherent talent to do so. . . Because explanations for success or failure give priority to Moral Strength and Moral Essence, explanations in terms of social forces and class make no sense. They are only seen as excuses for lack of talent, laziness, or some other form of moral weakness. In such a worldview, in such a worldview, the concept of social justice does not make sense.” (G. Lakoff,  Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, 1996, p. 203).

33.   “To correct this observed inequality, which the Left sees as unnatural, it invented the term ‘social justice.’ But a system of Justice already exists, formulated by the Legislature, in supposed expression of the will of the people, and administered by the Judiciary. This is called the Judicial System. What, then, is this additional, amorphous ‘social justice’? It can only mean, as Hayek wrote, ‘State Justice.’ Here, though the Left will not follow the reasoning out to its end, the State (operating upon what basis it alone knows, and responsible to no law enacted by the people) confiscates wealth accumulated under existing laws and redistributes it to those it deems worthy” (D. Mamet, The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture, 2010, Kindle Locations 689-694).

34.   “The left has a whole vocabulary devoted to depicting people who do not meet standards as people who have been denied ‘access.’ Whether it is academic standards, job qualifications or credit requirements, those who do not measure up are said to have been deprived of ‘opportunity,’ ‘rights’ or ‘social justice.’ The word games of the left -- from the mantra of ‘diversity’ to the pieties of ‘compassion’ -- are not just games. They are ways of imposing power by evading issues of substance through the use of seductive rhetoric.” (T. Sowell, “The Left’s Vocabulary,” Capitalist Magazine Aug. 5, 2004, http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/culture/3830-the-left-s-vocabulary.html, accessed Dec. 4, 2011).

35.   “As far as I can judge by observations of usage, ‘social justice’ means ‘ideas of justice that appeal to left wingers’” (see comments section for Professor David Friedman at http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/04/is_bleeding-hea.html, accessed Sept. 29, 2012).

36.   “In a very real sense then, the [United Nations Universal Declaration Human Rights] serves as a global roadmap toward what the Left often refers to as the concept of ‘social justice’. The driving principles of the ‘social justice movement’ are:

          [1]the view that poverty exists because wealth does, so that the rich are responsible for the poverty of the poor;

          [2] the idea that the way to deal with poverty is for the wealth of the wealthy to be transferred to the poor. (This would work well in a non-dynamic universe, a fixed pie, but of course that is not reality.)

         In reality, the only way to reduce poverty is to increase overall wealth, which is what the Western world has been doing successfuly for centuries, which is why our ‘poor’ live better than the non-poor of earlier times.

          Thus, what you see in leftists is two competing wishes. One is to raise the economic level of the poor; the other is to eliminate inequality. Many leftists would, I am sure, reject a move which instantly doubled everyone's wealth, because it would further the gaps, even though it would give more to those at the bottom” (P. Postal, March 19, 2006, http://theanti-chomskyanredoubt.blogspot.com/2006/03/noam-chomsky-and-quest-for-social.html, accessed May 20, 2012).

 

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