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A protester at Occupy Wall Street surrounded by signs that demand social justice, September 2011

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being.^[1][2][3]

Social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. These policies aim to achieve what developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity than may currently exist in some societies, and to manufacture equality of outcome in cases where incidental inequalities appear in a procedurally just system. The Constitution of the International Labour Organization affirms that "universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice."^[4] Furthermore, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action treats social justice as a purpose of the human rights education.^[5]

The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by the Jesuit Luigi Taparelli in 1840 based on the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and given further exposure in 1848 by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati.^{[1][2][6][7][8]} The word has taken on a very controverted and variable meaning, depending on who is using it. The idea was elaborated by the moral theologian John A. Ryan, who initiated the concept of a living wage. Father Coughlin also used the term in his publications in the 1930s and the 1940s. It is a part of Catholic social teaching, the Protestants' Social Gospel, and is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party upheld by green parties worldwide. Social justice as a secular concept, distinct from religious teachings, emerged mainly in the late twentieth century, influenced primarily by philosopher John Rawls. Some tenets of social justice have been adopted by those on the left of the political spectrum.

Theories of social justice[link]

Social justice from religious traditions[link]

Judaism[link]

In To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks states that social justice has a central place in Judaism. One of Judaism’s most distinctive and challenging ideas is its ethics of responsibility reflected in the concepts of simcha ("gladness" or "joy"), tzedakah ("the religious obligation to perform charity and philanthropic acts"), chesed ("deeds of kindness"), and tikkun olam ("repairing the world").

Christianity[link]

Catholicism[link]

Catholic social teaching consists of those aspects of Roman Catholic doctrine which relate to matters dealing with the collective aspect of humanity. A distinctive feature of the Catholic social doctrine is their concern for the poorest members of society. Two of the seven key areas^[9] of "Catholic social teaching" are pertinent to social justice:

• Life and dignity of the human person: The foundational principle of all "Catholic Social Teaching" is the sanctity of all human life and the inherent dignity of every human person. Human life must be valued above all material possessions.
• Preferential option for the poor and vulnerable: Catholics believe Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgement God will ask what each person did to help the poor and needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."^[10] The Catholic Church believes that through words, prayers and deeds one must show solidarity with, and compassion for, the poor. The moral test of any society is "how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. People are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor."^[11]

Even before it was propounded in the Catholic social doctrine, social justice appeared regularly in the history of the Catholic Church:

• The term "social justice" was adopted by the Jesuit Luigi Taparelli in the 1840s, based on the work of St. Thomas Aquinas. He wrote extensively in his journal Civiltà Cattolica, engaging both capitalist and socialist theories from a natural law viewpoint. His basic premise was that the rival economic theories, based on subjective Cartesian thinking, undermined the unity of society present in Thomistic metaphysics; neither the liberal capitalists nor the communists concerned themselves with public moral philosophy.
• Pope Leo XIII, who studied under Taparelli, published in 1891 the encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of the Working Classes), rejecting both socialism and capitalism, while defending labor unions and private property. He stated that society should be based on cooperation and not class conflict and competition. In this document, Leo set out the Catholic Church's response to the social instability and labor conflict that had arisen in the wake of industrialization and had led to the rise of socialism. The Pope advocated that the role of the State was to promote social justice through the protection of rights, while the Church must speak out on social issues in order to teach correct social principles and ensure class harmony.
• The encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (On Reconstruction of the Social Order, literally "in the fortieth year") of 1931 by Pope Pius XI, encourages a living wage, subsidiarity, and advocates that social justice is a personal virtue as well as an attribute of the social order, saying that society can be just only if individuals and institutions are just.
• Pope John Paul II added much to the corpus of the Catholic social teaching, penning three encyclicals which would deal with issues such as economics, politics, geo-political situations, ownership of the means of production, private property and the "social mortgage", and private property. The encyclicals of Laborem Exercens, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, and Centesimus Annus are just a small portion of his overall contribution to Catholic social justice. Pope John Paul II was a strong advocate of justice and human rights, and spoke forcefully for the poor. He addresses issues such as the problems that technology can present should it be misused, and admits a fear that the "progress" of the world is not true progress at all, if it should denigrate the value of the human person.
• Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus Caritas Est ("God is Love") of 2006 claims that justice is the defining concern of the state and the central concern of politics, and not of the church, which has charity as its central social concern. It said that the laity has the specific responsibility of pursuing social justice in civil society and that the church's active role in social justice should be to inform the debate, using reason and natural law, and also by providing moral and spiritual formation for those involved in politics.
• The official Catholic doctrine on social justice can be found in the book Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published in 2004 and updated in 2006, by the Pontifical Council Iustitia et Pax.

Methodism[link]

From its founding, Methodism was a Christian social justice movement.

Under John Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social justice issues of the day, including the prison reform and abolitionism movements. Wesley himself was among the first to preach for slaves rights attracting significant opposition.^[12][13][14]

Today, social justice plays a major role in the United Methodist Church. The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church says, "it is a governmental responsibility to provide all citizens with health care."^[15] The United Methodist Church also teaches Population control as part of its doctrine.^[16]

Hinduism[link]

Non-tribal part of Ancient Hindu society was divided into hundreds of upper and lower castes[Jati]. Some of these castes were organized in certain regions as Jajmani functioning as interdependent system. However there were many internal challenges to jati stratification, the jajmani and such other inequalities in Indian social structure. The present day jati hierarchy is undergoing changes for variety of reasons including 'social justice',which is a politically popular stance in democratic India. The disparity and wide inequalities in social behaviour to some of the castes led to various reform movements in hinduism.

There is a wide acceptance that Hindu social structure is ridden with castes and communities, and that this has led to barriers and segregation and condemnation of obnoxious vice of social inequality and untouchability. Vivekananda's calls to promote social justice have largely gone unheeded^[17].

Islam[link]

This section requires expansion.

The Quran contains numerous references to elements of social justice. For example, one of Islam's Five Pillars is Zakāt, or alms-giving. Charity and assistance to the poor – concepts central to social justice – are and have historically been important parts of the Islamic faith.

In Muslim history, Islamic governance has often been associated with social justice. Establishment of social justice was one of the motivating factors of the Abbasid revolt against the Ummayads.^[18] The Shi'ite believe that the return of the Mahdi (Messiah) will herald in "the messianic age of justice" and the Messiah will end plunder, torture, oppression and discrimination.^[19]

For the Muslim Brotherhood the implementation of social justice would require the rejection of consumerism and communism. The Brotherhood strongly affirmed the right to private property as well as differences in personal wealth due to factors such as hard work. However, the Brotherhood held Muslims had an obligation to assist those Muslims in need. It held that zakat (alms-giving) was not voluntary charity, but rather the poor had the right to assistance from the more fortunate.^[20]

John Rawls[link]

Political philosopher John Rawls draws on the utilitarian insights of Bentham and Mill, the social contract ideas of John Locke, and the categorical imperative ideas of Kant. His first statement of principle was made in A Theory of Justice where he proposed that, "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others.".^[21] A deontological proposition that echoes Kant in framing the moral good of justice in absolutist terms. His views are definitively restated in Political Liberalism where society is seen "as a fair system of co-operation over time, from one generation to the next.".^[22]

All societies have a basic structure of social, economic, and political institutions, both formal and informal. In testing how well these elements fit and work together, Rawls based a key test of legitimacy on the theories of social contract. To determine whether any particular system of collectively enforced social arrangements is legitimate, he argued that one must look for agreement by the people who are subject to it, but not necessarily to an objective notion of justice based on coherent ideological grounding. Obviously, not every citizen can be asked to participate in a poll to determine his or her consent to every proposal in which some degree of coercion is involved, so one has to assume that all citizens are reasonable. Rawls constructed an argument for a two-stage process to determine a citizen's hypothetical agreement:

• The citizen agrees to be represented by X for certain purposes, and, to that extent, X holds these powers as a trustee for the citizen.
• X agrees that enforcement in a particular social context is legitimate. The citizen, therefore, is bound by this decision because it is the function of the trustee to represent the citizen in this way.

This applies to one person who represents a small group (e.g., the organiser of a social event setting a dress code) as equally as it does to national governments, which are ultimate trustees, holding representative powers for the benefit of all citizens within their territorial boundaries. Governments that fail to provide for welfare of their citizens according to the principles of justice are not legitimate. To emphasise the general principle that justice should rise from the people and not be dictated by the law-making powers of governments, Rawls asserted that, "There is ... a general presumption against imposing legal and other restrictions on conduct without sufficient reason. But this presumption creates no special priority for any particular liberty."^[23] This is support for an unranked set of liberties that reasonable citizens in all states should respect and uphold — to some extent, the list proposed by Rawls matches the normative human rights that have international recognition and direct enforcement in some nation states where the citizens need encouragement to act in a way that fixes a greater degree of equality of outcome.

The basic liberties according to Rawls[link]

• Freedom of thought;
• Liberty of conscience as it affects social relationships on the grounds of religion, philosophy, and morality;
• Political liberties (e.g. representative democratic institutions, freedom of speech and the press, and freedom of assembly);
• Freedom of association;
• Freedoms necessary for the liberty and integrity of the person (viz: freedom from slavery, freedom of movement and a reasonable degree of freedom to choose one's occupation); and
• Rights and liberties covered by the rule of law.

Criticism[link]

Many authors criticize the idea that there exists an objective standard of social justice. Moral relativists deny that there is any kind of objective standard for justice in general. Non-cognitivists, moral skeptics, moral nihilists, and most logical positivists deny the epistemic possibility of objective notions of justice. Cynics (such as Niccolò Machiavelli^{[citation needed]}) believe that any ideal of social justice is ultimately a mere justification for the status quo.

Many other people accept some of the basic principles of social justice, such as the idea that all human beings have a basic level of value, but disagree with the elaborate conclusions that may or may not follow from this. One example is the statement by H. G. Wells that all people are "equally entitled to the respect of their fellowmen."^[24]

On the other hand, some scholars reject the very idea of social justice as meaningless, religious, self-contradictory, and ideological, believing that to realize any degree of social justice is unfeasible, and that the attempt to do so must destroy all liberty. The most complete rejection of the concept of social justice comes from Friedrich Hayek of the Austrian School of economics:

There can be no test by which we can discover what is 'socially unjust' because there is no subject by which such an injustice can be committed, and there are no rules of individual conduct the observance of which in the market order would secure to the individuals and groups the position which as such (as distinguished from the procedure by which it is determined) would appear just to us. [Social justice] does not belong to the category of error but to that of nonsense, like the term `a moral stone'.^[25]

Ben O'Neill of the University of New South Wales argues that, for proponents of "social justice":^[26]

the notion of "rights" is a mere term of entitlement, indicative of a claim for any possible desirable good, no matter how important or trivial, abstract or tangible, recent or ancient. It is merely an assertion of desire, and a declaration of intention to use the language of rights to acquire said desire.

In fact, since the program of social justice inevitably involves claims for government provision of goods, paid for through the efforts of others, the term actually refers to an intention to use force to acquire one's desires. Not to earn desirable goods by rational thought and action, production and voluntary exchange, but to go in there and forcibly take goods from those who can supply them!

Janusz Korwin-Mikke argues simply: "Either 'social justice' has the same meaning as 'justice' – or not. If so – why use the additional word 'social?' We lose time, we destroy trees to obtain paper necessary to print this word. If not, if 'social justice' means something different from 'justice' – then 'something different from justice' is by definition 'injustice'"

Sociologist Carl L. Bankston has argued that a secular, leftist view of social justice entails viewing the redistribution of goods and resources as based on the rights of disadvantaged categories of people, rather than on compassion or national interest. Bankston maintains that this secular version of social justice became widely accepted due to the rise of demand-side economics and to the moral influence of the civil rights movement.^[27]

Cosmic values[link]

Hunter Lewis' work promoting natural healthcare and sustainable economies advocates for conservation as a key premise in social justice. His manifesto on sustainability ties the continued thriving of human life to real conditions, the environment supporting that life, and associates injustice with the detrimental effects of unintended consequences of human actions. Quoting classical Greek thinkers like Epicurus on the good of pursuing happiness, Hunter also cites ornithologist, naturalist, and philosopher Alexander Skutch in his book Moral Foundations:

The common feature which unites the activities most consistently forbidden by the moral codes of civilized peoples is that by their very nature they cannot be both habitual and enduring, because they tend to destroy the conditions which make them possible.^[28]

Pope Benedict XVI cites Teilhard de Chardin in a vision of the cosmos as a 'living host' ^[29] embracing an understanding of ecology that includes mankinds's relationship to fellow men, that pollution effects not just the natural world but interpersonal relations also. Cosmic harmony, justice and peace are closely interrelated:

If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.^[30]

Social justice movements[link]

Social justice is also a concept that is used to describe the movement towards a socially just world, i.e., the Global Justice Movement. In this context, social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality, and can be defined as "the way in which human rights are manifested in the everyday lives of people at every level of society".^[31]

A number of movements are working to achieve social justice in society.^[32][33] These movements are working towards the realization of a world where all members of a society, regardless of background or procedural justice, have basic human rights and equal access to the benefits of their society.

Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition[link]

The Interfaith Social Justice Reform Coalition (ISARC) is Ontario's largest interfaith organization dedicated to faith-based approaches to public policy reform in the areas of social justice and poverty eradication. ISARC has a shared hope to mobilize, facilitate, and empower diverse faith communities to research, educate and advocate for public policy for the elimination of poverty in Ontario. ISARC's values include human dignity, social equity, mutual responsibility, fiscal fairness, economic equity and environmental sustainability. Since 1986, ISARC has been a leader in mobilizing faith communities to advocate for systemic change in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

The Green Party[link]

Social Justice (sometimes "Social Equality and Global Equality and Economic Justice") is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party and is sometimes referred to as "Social and Global Equality" or "Economic Justice". The Canadian party defines the principle as the "equitable distribution of resources to ensure that all have full opportunities for personal and social development".^[34] As one of the 10 key values of the party in the United States, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people "to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment."^[35]

Liberation theology[link]

Liberation theology^[36] is a movement in Christian theology which conveys the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor",^[37] and by detractors as Christianity perverted by Marxism and Communism.^[38]

Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1950s – 1960s. It arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice in that region. It achieved prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. The term was coined by the Peruvian priest, Gustavo Gutiérrez, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation (1971). Other noted exponents are Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Jon Sobrino of El Salvador, and Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay.^[39][40]

Social justice in healthcare[link]

Social justice has more recently made its way into the field of bioethics. Discussion involves topics such as affordable access to health care, especially for low income households and family. The discussion also raises questions such as whether society should bear healthcare costs for low income families, and whether the global marketplace is a good thing to deal with healthcare. Ruth Faden and Madison Powers of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics focus their analysis of social justice on which inequalities matter the most. They develop a social justice theory that answers some of these questions in concrete settings.

Social justice and human rights education[link]

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action affirm that "Human rights education should include peace, democracy, development and social justice, as set forth in international and regional human rights instruments, in order to achieve common understanding and awareness with a view to strengthening universal commitment to human rights.^[41]

The Zeitgeist Movement[link]

The Zeitgeist Movement is a social justice and sustainability advocacy organization. The movement argues against the "monetary-market" economy which, in their view, should be replaced with a resource-based economy in which money, debt or any forms of money equivalents serve no purpose.

Periodicals and publications[link]

Social Justice by Father Coughlin

Published originally in Italian in 1848, the founder of the Society of Charity Rosmini's seminal work Costituzione secondo la giustizia sociale "The Constitution under Social Justice"^[42] was translated into English in 2006 by Alberto Mingardi. This work of political philosophy links representative justice to territorial property rights held in trust by a monarch, and asserts a social justice of no taxation without representation. Historically income tax was not levied on an individuals' industry or labor but rather on profits realized by title holders of real estate. Such an injustice—withholding wages from a worker—would have been inconceivable to 18th century liberal democrats.

Social Justice was also the name of a periodical published by Father Coughlin in the 1930s and early 1940s.^[43] Coughlin's organization was known as the National Union for Social Justice and he frequently used the term social justice in his radio broadcasts. In 1935 Coughlin made a series of broadcasts in which he outlined what he termed "the Christian principles of social justice" as an alternative to both capitalism and communism. Some Catholic contemporaries, such as the Catholic Radical Alliance, felt that he misused the term, and was too supportive of capitalism.^[44] The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson acknowledges that terminology used in the Church's social teachings needs glossing for US audiences ^[45] where the adjective social may have a negative connotation of collective arrogation of responsibility for individual well-being.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Social justice

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

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Walter E. Williams, (born March 31, 1936) is an American economist, commentator, and academic. He is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, as well as a syndicated columnist and author known for his libertarian views.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Williams was born into an African-American family. His family during childhood consisted of himself, his mother, and his sister. His father played no role in raising either child.^[3] He grew up in Philadelphia. The family initially lived in West Philadelphia, moving to North Philadelphia and the Richard Allen housing projects when Williams was ten. His neighbors included a young Bill Cosby. Williams knew many of the individuals that Cosby speaks of from his childhood, including Weird Harold and Fat Albert.^[4]

Williams was a talented high school student who displayed a very inconsistent performance in his studies. Following high school he came out to stay with his father in California, and attended one semester at Los Angeles City College, in regard to which he would later state that he was not ready yet to be a serious student.^[5] In 1959 he was drafted into the military, and served as a Private in the United States Army.^[4][6] While serving in the Army, he "waged a one man battle against Jim Crow from inside the army (where he was nearly court-martialed for challenging the racial order)."^[4] Williams:

wrote a letter to President John F. Kennedy denouncing the pervasive racism of the American government and military. “Should Negroes be relieved of their service obligation or continue defending and dying for empty promises of freedom and equality,” Williams demanded of the president. "Or should we demand human rights as our Founding Fathers did at the risk of being called extremists....I contend that we relieve ourselves of oppression in a manner that is in keeping with the great heritage of our nation.”^[4]

He received a reply from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Alfred B. Fitt, a response which he termed "the most reasonable response that I received from any official."^[7]

Following his military service, he re-entered college as a far more motivated student. Williams earned both a bachelor's degree (1965) and a masters degree (1967) in economics from California State University, Los Angeles. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972. Speaking of his early college days, Williams says "I was more than anything a radical. I was more sympathetic to Malcolm X than Martin Luther King because Malcolm X was more of a radical who was willing to confront discrimination in ways that I thought it should be confronted, including perhaps the use of violence. But I really just wanted to be left alone. I thought some laws, like minimum-wage laws, helped poor people and poor black people and protected workers from exploitation. I thought they were a good thing until I was pressed by professors to look at the evidence." While at UCLA Williams came into contact with economists such as Armen Alchian, James Buchanan and Axel Leijonhufvud who challenged his assumptions. Never one to be over-awed by others, Williams regularly challenged his professors as well. But on examining the evidence of actual outcomes he came to feel such programs were abject failures. "I learned that you have to evaluate the effects of public policy as opposed to intentions."^[8]

While at UCLA, Thomas Sowell arrived on campus in 1969 as a visiting professor. Though he never took a class from Dr. Sowell, the two met and began a friendship that has lasted to this day. In the summer of 1972 Sowell was hired as director of the Urban Institutes Ethnic Minorities Project, which Williams joined shortly thereafter^[9] Correspondence between Sowell and Williams appears in the 2007 "A Man of Letters" by Sowell.

Academic career[link]

Williams has been a Professor of Economics at George Mason University since 1980, and was chairman of the University's Economics department from 1995 to 2001.

He has previously been on the faculty of Los Angeles City College, California State University – Los Angeles, Temple University, and Grove City College. Williams was awarded an honorary degree at Universidad Francisco Marroquin. He also attended Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood NY.

Writing career[link]

Williams has written eight books and hundreds of articles. His syndicated column is published weekly in approximately 140 newspapers across the United States, as well as on several web sites by Creators Syndicate.^[10]

Economic and political views[link]

As an economist, Williams is a proponent of free market economics and opposes socialist systems of government intervention.^[11] "I praise lassez-faire capitalism as being the most moral and most productive system man has ever devised. Capitalism is relatively new in human history. Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man."^[12] In advancing these theories, Williams has said "That's a challenge I love: making economics fun and understandable."^[13]

In the mid-to-late 1970s Williams conducted research into the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 and on the impact of minimum wage laws on minority employment. His research led him to conclude the government's interventional programs were harmful. Among those state programs Williams was critical of were minimum wage and affirmative action laws, stating both practices inhibit liberty and are detrimental to the blacks they are intended to help. He published his results in his 1982 book The State Against Blacks, where he argued that laws regulating economic activity are far greater obstacles to economic progress for blacks than racial bigotry and discrimination.^[8] Subsequently Williams penned a number of articles detailing his view that increases in the minimum wage price low skill workers out of the market, eliminating their opportunities for employment.^[14][15][16] Williams believes that racism and the legacy of slavery in the United States are overemphasized as problems faced by the black community today. He points to the crippling effects of a welfare state and the disintegration of the black family as more pressing concerns. "The welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery couldn't do, and that is to destroy the black family"^[8] Though in favor of equal access to government institutions such as court houses, city halls and libraries, Williams opposes anti-discrimination laws directed at the private sector on the grounds that such laws infringe upon the people's right of freedom of association.

Williams views gun control laws as a governmental infringement upon the rights of individuals, and argues that they end up endangering the innocent while failing to reduce crime.^[17] Williams also makes the argument that the true proof of whether or not an individual owns something is whether or not they have the right to sell it. Taking this argument to its conclusion, he supports legalization of selling one's own bodily organs.^[18] He argues that government prohibiting the selling of one's bodily organs is an infringement upon one's property rights, asking "If I don't own my organs, please tell me who does?"^[19][20]

Regarding Federalism, Williams is in favor of power being in the hands of the states, with limited powers being held by the Federal government. This was the design of the founding documents, largely undermined by the events of the civil war.^[21]

"The War between the States settled by force whether states could secede. Once it was established that states cannot secede, the federal government, abetted by a Supreme Court unwilling to hold it to its constitutional restraints, was able to run amok over states’ rights, so much so that the protections of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments mean little or nothing today. Not only did the war lay the foundation for eventual nullification or weakening of basic constitutional protections against central government abuses, but it also laid to rest the great principle enunciated in the Declaration of Independence that 'Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'"

In light of the founding documents, Williams concludes it is the right of U.S. states to secede from the union if they so wish, as several states attempted to do during the Civil War.^[22] He has gone on record as advocating the Free State Project in at least two columns and once on television. The Williams endorsement correlated with the largest single membership jump in the first 5000 phase of the project, a jump even higher than the results of the project being Slashdotted.

Williams believes programs such as affirmative action and minimum wage laws set up to aide minorities have, in fact, been harmful to them and stifled their ability to advance in society. "Affirmative action has led to, I believe, many Black people expecting favors from the system and not working as hard as they otherwise would. That is, if you know that you can get into college because of affirmative action—or some people call it diversity nowadays—well then why work as hard in high school? So it might undermine some of the spirit of people. And I think that the basic premise of those who advocate affirmative action is that the problems that Black Americans face today are the result of racial discrimination." In reaction to what he viewed as inappropriate racial sensitivity that he saw hurting blacks in higher education, Williams began in the 1970s to offer colleagues a "certificate of amnesty and pardon" to all white people for Western Civilization's sins against blacks - and "thus obliged them not to act like damn fools in their relationships with Americans of African ancestry." He still offers it to anyone. The certificate can be obtained at his website.^[23]

In his work, Williams builds on the economic theories of F. A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and Milton Friedman,^[24] as well as the previously mentioned Thomas Sowell, and he has said of Ayn Rand's 1967 work Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal that it is "one of the best defenses and explanations of capitalism one is likely to read."^[25]

Besides his weekly columns, Williams has become known nationally as a highly popular guest host before the twenty million listeners of the Rush Limbaugh radio program when Limbaugh is away traveling. Reason has called Williams "one of the country’s leading libertarian voices."^[4] In 2009, Greg Ransom, a writer for the Ludwig von Mises Institute, ranked Williams as the third-most important "Hayekian" Public Intellectual in America, behind only Thomas Sowell and John Stossel.^[26]

Non-profit activities[link]

Williams serves on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations, including the Bruin Alumni Association and Grove City College.

Presidential draft campaign[link]

Cartoonist Bruce Tinsley, in his comic strip Mallard Fillmore, launched a campaign to draft Williams for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.^[27] Although Williams initially stated that he wouldn't completely rule out the possibility, he ultimately decided against such a run, and endorsed Ron Paul.^[28]

Personal life[link]

Williams and his wife Connie (née Taylor) were married from 1960 until her death on December 29, 2007. They have one daughter, Devyn (b. 1975), who resides in Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]} Williams is a cousin of former NBA player Julius Erving.^[29][30]

In 2011, Dr. Williams retired from the board of directors of Media General. He served on the board of directors from 2001–2011 and was chairman of the Audit Committee.

Books[link]

• America: a Minority Viewpoint (1982) ISBN 0-8179-7562-4
• The State Against Blacks (1984) ISBN 0-07-070378-7
• All It Takes Is Guts: A Minority View (1988) ISBN 0-89526-569-9
• South Africa's War Against Capitalism (1989) ISBN 0-275-93179-X
• Do the Right Thing: The People's Economist Speaks (1995) ISBN 0-8179-9382-7
• More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well (1999) ISBN 0-8179-9612-5
• Liberty versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays (2008) ISBN 0-8179-4912-9
• Up from the Projects: An Autobiography (2010) ISBN 0-8179-1254-1
• Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination? (2011) ISBN 978-0-8179-1244-4

See also[link]

• List of economists

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• Williams, Walter E. (1999) "More Liberty Means Less Government; Our Founders Knew This Well" Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 0-8179-9612-5
• Williams, Walter E. (2010) "Up From The Projects" Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 0-8179-1255-0

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Walter E. Williams

• Walter Williams Home Page at GMU
  • Biography
• Walter Williams Features at Creators Syndicate
• Syndicated articles (at townhall.com) (rss feed)(at Jewish World Review)
• Podcasts of Williams' recent articles
• Podcast featuring Williams Williams discusses economics and life on EconTalk.
• Audio interview with Walter E. Williams at National Review Online
• Walter Williams Quotes
• Biography and List of Articles written by Walter Williams at Capitalism Magazine
• Economics for the Citizen
• His Introduction (pdf) to Choosing the Right College
• Walter E. Williams Lectures from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute
• An Interview with Dr. Walter E. Williams at Free Market Mojo
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Williams, March 18, 2012

Persondata
Name	Williams, Walter
Alternative names
Short description	American writer
Date of birth	1936-06-30
Place of birth	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of death
Place of death

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Ernest Morrell (born April 27, 1971) is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles^[1] and Associate Director of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access.^[2] He is a Democratic candidate for California's 37th State Assembly district^[3] and the founder and President of Desert Highway Records.^[4]

Education[link]

Morrell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1993, his California teaching credential in Secondary English (1994), Master of Arts Degree in Education (1997), and Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture (2001) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Professional career[link]

Morrell began his teaching career as an English teacher at Oakland High School in Oakland, California in 1994. While continuing to teach at Oakland High School, Morrell served as an instructor at the University of California Berkeley and supervised student teachers for the University of San Francisco. Beginning 1999, he served as a research associate at Center X [1] and an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Los Angeles. Morrell was then an assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education and an affiliated faculty member of the African-American and African Studies and Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures departments at Michigan State University from 2001 - 2005. From 2002 - 2004, Morrell continued as a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2005, Morrell returned to the University of California, Los Angeles as a tenure-track assistant professor. In 2007, Morrell earned tenure and became an associate professor at UCLA.

Scholarship & Publications[link]

Morrell is the author of four books: Becoming Critical Researchers: Literacy and Empowerment for Urban Youth,^[5] Linking Literacy and Popular Culture: Finding Connections for Lifelong Learning,^[6] Critical Literacy and Urban Youth: Pedagogies of Access, Dissent, and Liberation,^[7][8] and The Art of Critical Pedagogies: Possibilities for Moving from Theory to Practice in Urban Schools.^[9][10] Morrell's scholarship focuses on how to provide youth the skills they need to succeed academically and function more powerfully as citizens in a multicultural democracy.^[11] A front-page story in the Los Angeles Times described how "Education professors Ernest Morrell and Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade use hip-hop lyrics to deepen students' understanding of established literary texts."^{[12][13][14][15]}

Awards and recognitions[link]

In 1999, Morrell received a Certificate of Recognition for commitment to Oakland High School from the State of California Senate. Following graduate school, Morrell received the Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2001 from the University of California, Berkeley. He then received an American Educational Research Association/OERI postdoctoral fellowship for 2001 - 2004. In 2005, Morrell was selected for inclusion in Academic Keys Who's Who in Education.^[16] In 2008, Morrell received the Distinguished Teaching Award at University of California, Los Angeles. Morrell was featured in the UCLA Prime Magazine in an article titled, "7 Bruins Who Will Change the World"^[17]

Personal[link]

Morrell resides in Camarillo with his spouse and two sons.

References[link]