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THE PROBLEM OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

David Miller in his erudite article on the Ideological Background to conception of social justice has defined the problem of social justice as that principle which should be chosen to govern the distribution of wealth, prestige and other benefits among members of society. He has propounded three criterions which have been evolved by various schools of thought to decide the issue. The first criterion insists on the principle of ‘ protection of acknowledgedrights ’. It corresponds to a model of society, which Miller has termed as ‘hierarchical order’. The chief advocate of this principal is David Hume. The second criterion subscribes to the principle of ‘distribution according to desire’. The corresponding model of society in this case is that of competitive market. The chief exponent of this model is Herbert Spencer. Finally, the third criterion is characterized by the principle of ‘distribution according to need’. This leads to the model of ‘solidarity community’. Kropotkin m