Blog Entry 2

Career Development and Social Justice

           

Social Justice is defined as the belief or philosophy that that all persons, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, social status, race, or religion are to be treated equally (Brown, 2007, p. 17). It makes the assumptions that as a society we should be willing to work with others in order to enhance our society, enable development, promote financial equality and to certify fairness.  Unfortunately, as a society we are far from achieving social justice. Friedman provides his idea of how to work towards achieving that goal. He talked about how as a government they should be providing infrastructure that includes education, healthcare, and social networks that helps individuals during personal disasters (Brown, 2007, p. 17, p 18).

While doing research on social inequality in America I came across two theories. The first theory is the functionalist theory. “Functionalist believe that inequality is inevitable and desirable, and that it plays an important function in society. Important positions in society require more training and thus should receive more rewards. Social inequality and social stratification, according to this view, lead to a meritocracy based on ability” (Crossman, 2016). The next theory is the conflict theory and that is the view of inequality resulting from groups with power dominating groups with little power. “They believe that social inequality prevents and hinders societal progress as those in power repress the powerless people in order to maintain the status quo. In today's world, this work of domination is achieved primarily through the power of ideology--our thoughts, values, beliefs, world views, norms, and expectations” (Crossman, 2016). Brown writes about theories and the purpose of them simplifying a picture for us. He goes on to explain “good” theories” versus “bad” ones; and he quotes Krumboltz “our psychological theories are as good as we know how to make then so far, but in all probability they are far short of being accurate” (Brown, 2007, p. 43).

I feel that social inequality is a mixture of not just one theory, but many theories and “social justice cannot be achieved unless people have meaningful jobs” (Brown, 2007, p. 18). According to Roberts, Povich, and Maher mention that ending poverty solely relies on education and skills training. I find this to be very true because like secretary Anne Duncan said on October 9th, 2009 “I believe that education is the civil rights issue of our generation. And if you care about promoting opportunity and reducing inequality, the classroom is the place to start. Great teaching is about so much more than education; it is a daily fight for social justice”. This quote sums up my belief of implementing career development programs at a very young age, so that once students reach the end of high school they are educated about society and the many careers America has to offer.

References

Ashley Crossman Sociology Expert. (2016). How Sociology Explains Social Inequality. Retrieved September 09, 2016, from http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Social-Inequality.htm

Brown, D. (2007). Career information, career counseling, and career development. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 

How we can achieve social justice. (n.d.). Retrieved September 09, 2016, from http://www.thepursuitofhappiness.com/real-social-justice/