The Social Life of Justice

In an age of crisis and uncertainty, Nasar Meer asks what justice means in an unjust world, and how it might be sustained in uncertain times. The Social Life of Justice presents clear, vivid examples to reimagine justice as a social practice of design: something we make, repair and contest through our institutions, histories and everyday relations.

Ranging from Plato to climate change, from social contracts to international humanitarian law, the book traces how the moral vocabularies of law, policy and borders have been shaped by power, and suggests ways by which they might yet be redesigned to minimize harm and distribute benefits more fairly. Using examples of racial, gender, epistemic and environmental justice, Meer invites readers to see how ideas of justice are created and contested through lived human experience rather than from the theories we inherit.

Written with clarity and urgency, this book will appeal to readers interested in sociology, political theory, law and global studies.