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40 Examples of Social Injustice

John Spacey, updated on April 05, 2024

Social injustice refers to the unfair treatment of people and barriers that are put in place to prevent equal access and opportunities. This includes systemic discrimination, oppression and violations of rights and freedoms resulting in disadvantages, marginalization and suffering. The following are common examples of social injustice.

Accessibility Barriers	Ageism In Employment
Bullying	Caste Discrimination
Child Abuse & Neglect	Child Labor
Child Poverty	Cultural Intolerance
Cyberbullying	Denial of Freedoms
Disability Discrimination	Discrimination Against Immigrants
Discriminatory Hiring	Educational Inequality
Elder Neglect	Environmental Injustice
Exploitative Working Conditions	Food Insecurity
Forced Labor	Gender Bias
Healthcare Disparity	Housing Segregation
Human Rights Abuses	Human Trafficking
Immigration Detention Conditions	Inadequate Social Protection
Indigenous Discrimination	Justice System Disparities
LGBTQ+ Discrimination	Labor Market Discrimination
Mental Health Stigma	Police Brutality
Prison Overcrowding	Racial Profiling
Religious Intolerance	Systemic Racism
Unequal Opportunities	Unsafe Working Conditions
Voter Suppression	Wage Theft

Economic Injustice

Injustice related to economic access and opportunity in areas such as education, housing, employment and small business.

Discrimination

The unfair or prejudicial treatment of people based on identity characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion or disability. Discrimination can create serious social, economic, employment, educational and housing disparities and represents a pervasive form of adversity.

Political Oppression

The use of power to silence dissent and to mistreat the political opposition and perceived adversaries.

Labor Exploitation

Unfair labor practices that run contrary to workers rights, employment regulations, international standards or ethical principles.

Summary

Social injustice is the unfair and unethical treatment of people and communities. These are social issues that are caused by unfair treatment by those with some type of political, economic or social power.

Discussion

Social injustice is any social issue, problem or risk that is unfairly imposed by others. This can be contrasted with social issues that have more fundamental causes such as a lack of infrastructure in a nation that causes high poverty levels. Poverty in a rich nation could be viewed as injustice as more than enough resources may exist to fulfill basic needs and provide opportunities in areas such as education and employment.

Notes

Unpaid internships are generally viewed as an ethical grey area whereby people will often gladly work for free at certain jobs and firms in order to gain valuable experience. We list it above because elites can easily afford to take unpaid internships that can be valuable whereas middle class and working class people may find it much more difficult to take unpaid work. In other words, unpaid internships have potential to be a form of systemic disadvantage for anyone who can't afford to work for free.

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