Lipscomb’s article notes the renewed interested in social justice, a renaissance which he accounts for in terms of two main reasons. Firstly, changing economic circumstances have led to this returned engagement with social justice. (Lipscomb, 2012, p. 1) Secondly, there is a theoretical emphasis on social justice in healthcare academic discourse. (Lipscomb, 2012, p. 1) From another perspective, these two reasons could be inter-related: insofar as academics become aware of the growing influence on economic difference on the healthcare practice, they have sought to articulate a theory of social justice which corresponds to the current situation.
Lipscomb’s text is an introduction to a special issue which addresses precisely these themes. One of the crucial issues in the literature is to understand that social justice is an ambiguous concept. (Lipscomb, 2012, p. 1) However, Lipscomb’s main thesis is that any definition of social justice is inseparable from politics. In order to address social justice, we have to understand the workings of the political system that may either promote or discourage social inequality. From this perspective, healthcare discourse must go outside its own boundaries to address the issue of social justice which is crucial to it.
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Insofar as Lipscomb’s thesis is correct, it seems that social justice is above all an instance of distributive justice. The political system has namely failed to address inequality and justice is not being equally distributed. While Lipscombe does not make the bold attempt to define what justice means, referring instead to historical definition such as Plato’s, there is a certain intuitive account of justice at work here, whereby justice is inseparable from equal treatment.
This is clearly relevant to the healthcare industry: equal treatment, for example, appears to encourage public as opposed to private forms of healthcare, to the extent that equal access to healthcare for all is deemed inseparable from social justice. In this regard, the attainment of justice, following Lipscomb, can only be realized through political action: greater adjustments to the overall healthcare system need to be made which embody a commitment to equality. Equality in healthcare namely cannot be realized through private interests, but through a shared public commitment, since social justice is, by definition, inclusive as opposed to exclusive.
