Quotes to back my shit up

On State Intervention: "...social liberals in particular become willing to embrace the state as a potential ally and as an instrument that can be used to protect and even humanise the capitalist system. If capitalism were fair and everybody experienced similar levels of freedom and opportunity, then liberals might shy away from using the state this way." (Taylor 2007)

On Social Justice:

"Originally the idea of social justice was group-specific--that is, it was applied solely to a particular people or nation with the intention of redressing the effects of hierarchical inequalities, particularly inherited inequalities...it focused primarily on issues of economic redistribution largely among individuals." (Reich 2002)

"During much of the twentieth century...there was a broad agreement in the West that a social justice paradigm must incorporate various means of achieving a fair distribution of societal goods--tangible and intangible." (Reich 2002)

"Rawls argues that...the justice of a system must be measured...based 'on how fundamental rights and duties are assigned and on the economic opportunities and social conditions in the various sectors of society' (p.7; see also Rawls, 2001)." (Reich 2002)

Rawls (1971) A Theory of Justice: "Undeserved inequalities call for redress; and since inequalities of birth and natural endowment are undeserved, these inequalities are to be somehow compensated for. Thus, the principle holds that in order to treat all persons equally, to provide genuine equality of opportunity, society must give more attention to those with fewer native assets and to those born into the less favorable social positions. The idea is to redress the bias of contingencies in the direction of equality." (1971, p.100)

Giving people only the option of being a consumer and not a producer skews the "free" market...

"In their famous pastoral letter (1986), the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops...stated that 'social justice implies that persons have an obligation to be active and productive participants in the life of society and that society has a duty to enable them to participate in this way.'" (per Reich 2002)

"The creation of greater social solidarity...implied in the goals of multiculturalism and social justice, requires...the establishment of a societal imperative that promotes full participation of each member of the community in the community's activities." (Reich 2002)

Material conception of justice. People will be happy if you give them things. And can you really distribute power? Doesn't that take a distributor who has the power to distribute?

Young's idea to show not just distribution, but distributive networks...

Reich, M (2002) Defining Social Justice in a Socially Unjust World, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services

On Health:

"the more unequal the distribution of economic rewards, the lower the life expectancy...A series of cross-national studies have demonstrated this to be the case: the more egalitarian the distribution of income, the higher the life expectancy (Rodgers, 1979; Flegg, 1982; Wilkinson, 1992; Waldman, 1992; Wennemo, 1993)." (p.xiii)

The real relationship is between income and health, not insurance and health. Insurance just picks up the slack, but chronic stress from tough living will still kill you sooner.

"Wilkinson reported a striking correlation (r=-0.81, p <0.0001) between the degree of income inequality and life expectancy (Wilkinson, 1986)." and "The U.S. is one of the richest countries in the world, but it is also one of the most unequal in terms of how that wealth is shared (Atkinson et al., 1995)." (p.xi)

"Reduced social spending...translates into diminished life opportunities, especially, for those nearer the bottom of the economic heiracrchy, making it difficult for them to improve their material circumstances." (p.xx)

"When the social fabric thins, more affluent people can buy their way out with private schools, guarded or gated communities, private social clubs, and individual psychotherapy." (p.xxi) And, we might add to that: health insurance.

To read: Amartya Sen, James Galbraith

Kawachi I, Kennedy BP, Wilkinson RG. 1999. "Introduction" p. xi - xxxiv. The Society and Population Health Reader. New York, The New Press.