Distinguish and briefly discuss the difference between the two types of social injustice described in your text, giving examples of each.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The first type of social injustice is differential social treatment of cultural groups due to racism, sexism, classism, and other types of isms that contribute to the endurance of injustice, prejudice, and discrimination. Differential social treatment of marginalized groups manifest directly and indirectly. Examples of direct differential treatment are obvious discrimination against minorities and people with disabilities in hiring, bigotry directed toward LGBT people, and violence against homeless people. Examples of not-so-obvious differential social treatment include schoolteachers paying more attention to students without mental health disorders than student with disabilities, social workers and counselors refusing to work in rural areas, and attorneys dropping clients who are unable to pay the required fees. The second type of social inequality is when laws and governmental or institutional policies and regulations are discriminatory toward some groups by fostering unequal opportunities and resources based solely on social and cultural identities. This type of social injustice is very insidious because it has the appearance of legality and results in very harmful disparities in many areas of life for millions of people in the United States. Examples that serve to demonstrate such laws and governmental policies and regulations are economic policies that allow differential access to health care, education, civil rights, and the location of businesses that contaminate poor neighborhoods.