Social Justice along a Continuum: A Relational Illustrative Model

Codes of ethics for national and international social work emphasize the importance of social justice. Both the brevity with which social justice is described in these codes and, in general, the contested and pluralistic conceptualization of social justice, have led to a mishmash of concepts, theories, and approaches. To counter this ambiguity, the current study proposes an illustrative framework built on a basic continuum that locates social justice between oppositional notions of social oppression and social equality. This framework may help academics, students, and practitioners to locate their own personal understanding of social justice. It also may foster open dialogue about a system of social justice that is more comprehensive and generous than the current one. To illustrate the model’s use, an example of child-care policy in Canada is included.