Is Social Justice Unjust?

    Reading these articles completely changed my idea of social justice. I believed that social justice was for all, each individual. However, these articles demonstrated that how unjust we can be to our peers without realizing it. The article that caught my attention the most and which i believed that summarized the others was Pelton's article. It was the very last article I read but it was the one that made things a lot more clear for me.
     One of the examples he used that was very catching was how advocates of welfare reforms believed that denying welfare to needy women would benefit the economy since the mothers of poor children would be forced to look for a job. This demonstrate that they are willing to be unjust to an individual for the good of the others. The other example about how elderly are given tests in order to renew their liscense was also very interesting. I had never really stopped to think about these things and how unjust we can be at times. Why should the needy women have to suffer and struggle so that the economy can ameliorate? How long will their children have to starve for before their mother finds a job? And why should the elderly be the only ones being tested in order to renew their license? Are they the only ones who could have vision problems? Why can't we all go through those tests to make it fair?
   So many questions came to mind while reading these articles. I began to think about different things that the country does for its citizens and began to critically think about the fairness to each and every individual. There are many things that the state or the country does for its citizens as a whole or as a group  whoever we are all very different. Even in the same culture there are always some people who are completely opposite. So what happens to those who do not belong to the group?
     Stereotyping and grouping is one thing that can completely change how effectively we help others. It is often impossible to help individual clients when they are being put in a certain group or stereotyped a certain way. Pelton states that social work students should be taught in a way in which they will not discriminate when treating their clients. To me, social workers never discriminated their clients. But as you begin to think about it, it is very easy for one to discriminate another by quickly stereotyping and putting them in a certain group.
    These articles stress on social work educators to step forward and teach the students how to effectively treat their clients without discriminating. I used this article as a wake up call. After reading these four articles I believe that from now on I will be more aware of how and when I stereotype certain people and on focusing on people as individuals. When in need, individuals should be able to receive help without being put in a group. We should all be treated like the individuals we are.