Distributive justice

Distributive Justice is a concept in social justice that concerns the nature of a socially just allocation of goods in a society. A society in which incidental inequalities in outcome do not arise would be considered a society guided by the principles of distributive justice. The concept includes the available quantities of goods, the process by which goods are to be distributed, and the resulting allocation of the goods to the members of the society.

Definition

Distributive justice refers to the perceived fairness of one's outcomes. The term is also used in a descriptive sense to refer to people's judgments about the fairness of distributions. People consider distributions to be fair if they reflect the input of the individuals involved.

Theories of Distributive Justice

There are several theories of distributive justice, each of which tries to specify what is meant by a fair distribution in different contexts. These include:

• Egalitarianism, which suggests that goods should be distributed equally.
• Sufficiency, which holds that everyone should have enough.
• Meritocracy, which proposes that goods should be distributed according to merit.
• Utilitarianism, which argues that goods should be distributed to maximize total utility.

Distributive Justice in Healthcare

In the context of healthcare, distributive justice is often used to refer to the fair distribution of resources among diverse members of a community. It is an important issue in bioethics and involves decisions about who gets what treatment, when and how.

See Also

• Social Justice
• Healthcare Ethics
• Egalitarianism
• Utilitarianism