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explain how the notion of social harm is connected with the ideas of social justice; support your answer with evidence from at least 2 chapters of book 1. This essay will explain the notion of social harm and how it is connected with social justice using different forms of evidence to support it. The first piece of evidence used is the Chinese cockle pickers, and the migrant workers which drowned whilst cockling in Morecombe Bay, and is recounted through the personal account of the fictionalised character Ai Qin. (Chapter 3, Ai Qin, P80, 2008). The second piece of evidence used is Hurricane Katrina which was a category 5 hurricane, which struck the Gulf of Mexico Coast and many other places along the way before hitting New Orleans, Using personal accounts from two paramedics and the media it will show how hurricane Katrina shows the link between social harm and social justice. And the third piece of evidence to be used to show how the notion of social harm is connected with the ideas of social justice is global markets and global corporations, Jeans, flowers and environmental degradation in Kenya using newspaper extracts. The notion of social harm is another alternative to the concept of crime. It can mean the wider views rather than the narrow approach to harm. Social harm can be seen as ways of understanding how problems are much more than just individual problems but can also be global problems. They are deep rooted in the fabric of society; social harm is emerging from a wider concern, social justice points to the activities of the rich and powerful and the way it impacts the excluded and disadvantaged. The notion of social harm is hard to differentiate, it produces problems not only for the individual but for society as a whole, and it also produces global problems, these problems include poverty, discrimination and inequalities which are all social harms and are linked to the concept of social justice. Harm is an ambiguous concept and has a problematic boundary between harm and crime; some crimes can be classed as harm such as rape and domestic violence. There is also psychological harm such as race, discrimination and hate crimes; there are many forms of social harm. There is a focus on social inclusion and well-being rather than poverty or inequalities can be viewed as positive and opens up questions of recognition. (Chapter 1, Fraser, 2008, P17). Care is a major part of social harm because there are major risks to care workers and to the cared for, such as bodily harm, care work can be classed as paid or unpaid, and is a source of well-being and social harm and is deeply entwined with social justice. It illustrates the complex relationship between well-being and harm. There is a wide range of provisions to protect the paid worker from harm whether they are legally allowed to work or not, there Is such thing as the (ILO), the International Labour Organisation. This is an agency of the United Nations promoting well-being and human rights. There are occupational injuries even deaths, which are of course major social harms, which leads us to the first of three examples of how the notion of social is connected to social justice, it is the Chinese cockle pickers, the migrant workers that drowned whilst cockling off the shores of Morecombe Bay, there was a personal report by a fictional character named Ai Qin, the story blends fact and fiction because it used reported accounts from undocumented workers along with investigative reports, it shows what the “hidden” workers have to go through, the harm stems from them being undocumented (illegal) workers, they still have rights even though they are illegal however they are sometimes unaware of such rights. It was found in these undercover investigative reports that there were profound personal suffering and discrimination to the individual and the wider society which shows the connection between social harm and social justice, this is because the workers were not given a safe environment to work in, which also shows the entanglements between social harm and social (in)justices. (Chapter 3, Craig et al, 2008, P80/81). Social justice is interwoven with issues of poverty and exclusion which are the issues of social harms and is how they are both connected with each other; the second example to show how they are linked is the event of Hurricane Katrina, which was a category 5 hurricane that hit the Gulf of Mexico Coast, Louisiana before descending chaos on New Orleans. It broke the levees that protect New Orleans and flooded it with toxic water, most of the population had to evacuated, however there were a lot left behind. The majority of who were black and poor. Using the accounts of two paramedics and the media reporting at the time, and also how they differentiate, for example the media reported the criminal activities vs. the personal accounts of the paramedics, (the oppressive police tactics). Katrina shows social harm in the form of poverty and discrimination on the wider scale, also racial discrimination and social segregation this links social exclusions and poverty to the ideas of social justice and also the entanglements between welfare and crime control. There was a lot of crime after the hurricane as the media reported, for example there was looting and violence. However the media reported that this was not the result of hurricane Katrina, that it just highlighted social problems that were already there. It classed New Orleans as an urban slum, and is a prime source for poverty and inequalities and violence, also as a place that has limited access to appropriate housing and that it had always been this way. It reported nothing about the oppressive policing that the personal accounts reported. The personal accounts of the paramedics was so different it showed the racial discrimination that was going on behind the scenes; they state that the authorities lied to them because they didn’t want the poor and the black evacuating to Mississippi; this was a major social harm. It showed a much more in-depth and personal account of what happened following Katrina and offers an insight of how the discrimination of the poor and black community is linked with social (in)justice. (Chapter 4, Bradshaw and Slonsky, 2008, P104). Looking at the social harm of Katrina it has shown that this has similar problems globally for example, council estates and Banlieves. Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans in a state of poverty even though the media reports state that this was already the case and that the hurricane just pointed out the social harms and inequalities that already existed as previously mentioned. (Chapter 4, Neumayr, 2008, P107). However the real crime of hurricane Katrina is the government’s failure to protect the vulnerable, and the real harm of it was the oppressive policing. Hurricane Katrina shows social harm in the wider sense; also the global problems of social harm, and links social exclusion, poverty and racial discrimination to the ideas of social justice it also shows how injustices come to light. It highlights just how bad the problems of social harm are. The third piece of evidence that shows the connection between social harm and social justice is the newspaper reports from Kenya where there seem to be deep rooted injustices happening. For example in 2004 it was revealed by a magazine report that scientists were stealing living organisms from Kenya and sold them on illegally to a biotechnology company who extracted enzymes to sell to a company to make a bleaching agent for denim, to give jeans a faded look. They have made millions from this and the rift valley where they stole it from has seen none of the profit. Kenya has lost Sh70m to what is called bio-piracy. It shows how corporate companies exploit others. Another example is Lake Naivasha where flower factories produce most of the globes exported flowers; there are many people who work in these factories and who pick the flowers, all of which need accommodation for themselves and their families. They live like paupers, and are paid so little, considering that the flowers are sold for so much, they have to share accommodation with other families as well, and Lake Naivasha has a growing population, which also means it is growing in crime. The social harm is the poor working conditions for the factory workers as they are working with chemicals that are potentially life threatening and poverty as they are living in poverty which links to the ideas of social justice and also shows the entanglement between welfare and crime control. Summing up, social justice has wide spread appeal among social scientists such as Rawls and Fraser; it shaped how people are understanding society and its injustices. Having looked at the case studies in previous paragraphs it is easier to see that social justice mobilises people against harm and shows them what is meant by harm. For example poverty, discrimination and inequalities people face are all of which are social harms, and for example it also shows that it does not just affect the individual involved but the society as a whole, this is because of economic growth and society is orientated with a tax paying population making it a social problem, therefore Social harm is deeply entangled with social justice, it shows how class and discrimination are wide spread and global. There is a growing acceptance to incorporate gender, race etc in the growing dimensions of social difference, peoples understanding of inequalities. Social justice should be thought of as normative and mobilising rather than social harms such as those that live in poverty and the inequalities they face, this is what connects social harm and social justice. Word count 1,598 REFERENCE Cochrane, A. and Walters, R.(2008),‘Globalisation of social justice’, pp130-159, in Newman, J and Yeates, N. (eds). Social Justice: Welfare, Crime and Society. Maidenhead, the Open University. Mooney, G. (2008), ‘Problem’ populations, ‘Problem’ places, pp98-125, in Newman, J and Yeates, N. (eds), Social Justice: Welfare, Crime and Society. Maidenhead, the Open University. Newman, J. and Yeates, N. (2008), ‘Making social justice: struggles and responses’, pp.1-28, in Newman, J. and Yeates, N. (eds), Social Justice: Welfare, Crime and Society. Maidenhead, the Open University. Widdowson, B. (2008), ‘Well-being: harm and work’, pp.66-96, in Newman, J. and Yeates, N. (eds), Social Justice: Welfare, Crime and Society. Maidenhead, the Open University.