The third chapter of Lum's book was very thought provoking for me. I entered this class thinking I knew what "Social Justice" meant, in a broad sense and as well in my own personal belief system. This chapter asked some pointed questions that have helped me to reflect on my definition and open it up to informed critique.
The chapter mentioned empowerment as a key role in Social Justice. This aligns well with my existing beliefs. The old "teach a man to fish," parable fits well with Social Work ideals. The author also mention access as a significant issue in Social Justice. I can understand that idea. Maybe we can't make all resources and opportunities equal for all members of society, but we can strive to make access to these resources and opportunity equal.
On reading this chapter, my mind kept floating back to the concept of Utopias. While Lum kept herself in check, always coming back to the idea of ideal v. real, it does start to sound sometimes like maybe what we're doing when searching fro Social Justice is striving to apply our own visions of Utopia to the world around us. Given that Utopia is a concept which, I believe, is personally defined, the act of applying one's vision of Utopia to the world around them can be dangerous. This chapter made me think, " How can we work towards a self-reflective practice in which we constantly reconcile our personal beliefs with those of our clients and people around us?"
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