Social justice (soziale Gerechtigkeit) is the rallying cry in German politics. Everybody is for social justice, no one is against it. Politicians, whether they are Christian Democrats or Social Democrats or Greens want social justice. In fact, I was suprised to learn that most German politicians believe that social justice had already been achieved in Germany.
I finally had a chance to read the results of a survey conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation – Soziale Gerechtigkeit in Deutschland(pdf file) – where representatives from all political parties to the Bundestag, the European Union, and German state assemblies were polled concerning their views on social justice. It turns out that a majority of the politicians feel that the distribution of income and wealth in Germany is "just". Not surprisingly, the conservative CDU/CSU representatives polled the highest here, with 83% applauding the "just" distribution of wealth; but even half of the SPD representatives were satisfied with the situation. Only the despised Linkspartei (Left Party) was highly dissatisfied (85%) with the way wealth and income are distributed, and did not view the conditions in Germany as "just".
What about the people they represent? Well, only 28% of the Germans polled are happy with the way income and wealth are distributed. They don’t feel it’s "just" at all! In fact, only 38% of those Germans who identified themselves as CDU/CSU voters feel that the present situation is "Socially Just". Could it be that these people take the "C" in their party’s name seriously? Perhaps they actually believe in the Christian doctrine of social justice whereby all economic and social activity must be undertaken within the parameters of service of the common good and the ‘having’ or wants of a few cannot be at the expense of, or take precedence over, the very ‘being’ or basic needs of the many.
But, of course, this Christian view that people of have of Social Justice is just plain dumb and unenlightened. The politicians in Berlin and Brussels understand that we live in a globalized economy, and therefore we need a "modern" definition of Social Justice. The folks at the Bertelsmann Foundation know this quite well:
"Politiker haben sehr moderne Vorstellungen von sozialer Gerechtigkeit", erklärt Robert Vehrkamp, Projektleiter bei der Bertelsmann-Stiftung. Diese seien den Bedingungen einer globalisierten Welt angepasst. "Ein Großteil der Bevölkerung jedoch hält dagegen weiterhin an der Verteilungsgerechtigkeit durch staatliche Sozialtransfers fest".
Social Justice is about about having "equal opportunity" – we all can become millionaires if we have equal access to education and employment opportunities. The fact that "the people" don’t take advantage of these opportunities is their own fault, as the Social Democrat Carsten Schneider told Der Spiegel:
"Wir sind den Menschen in ihrer Auffassung sicher ein Stück voraus", sagt Carsten Schneider (SPD). Wie er sein Verständnis von sozialer Gerechtigkeit – den Schritt vom nach- zum vorsorgenden Sozialstaat – vermitteln möchte, weiß er nicht. "Längerfristig führen nur bessere Voraussetzungen und Chancen für jeden Einzelnen zu einer gerechteren Einkommens- und Vermögensverteilung." Genau dies sei die Herausforderung der Politik: "Den Bürgern ihre Ängste nehmen." Da allerdings, so Vehrkamp, gibt es "noch enormen Gesprächsbedarf".
Hopefully Herr Schneider can enlighten the rest of us, so we no longer view the world as "unjust".
0 comment
für die sicht auf die dinge kommt es immer auf den standpunkt des betrachters an.
Klar. Aber ich dachte, die Politiker muessten eigentlich UNSEREN Standpunkt vertreten. So funktioniert die Demokratie, oder?
was du so denkst!
eine ähnlich gelagerte diskussion habe ich gerade in meinem blog, allerdings für ein ganz anderes thema.
vielleicht ist es ein bißchen viel verlangt, von menschen in vollkommen anderer lebenssituation verstanden und gar in meinen interessen vertreten werden zu sollen?
und vielleicht wäre das einzige mittel, das wirkliche verständnis zu bewirken, daß man die leute turnusmäßig aus der maßgeblichen politik hinauswirft, wie es die grünen in den achtzigern mit ihrem rotationsprinzipg taten?
allerdings, fürchte ich, würde das nicht helfen, weil sie in ihrer aktiven politischen zeit schon spaß an der macht gefunden und ihre pfründe gesichert haben.
thnx for the posting David.
i believe there are two things one has to consider regarding the different perspectives of politicians and ordinary people:
1. “Preaching one thing and doing the exact opposite”: lately there have been some limitations put upon smokers as to where they were allowed to smoke. Then when some try to argue with the same standards for the politicians in the Bundestag, they don’t get very far ( http://tinyurl.com/348vq8 ) So some politicians don’t think they ought to be a model for those, they are supposed to make laws for..
2. At the same time, politicians in power try to paint their governmental skills as nice as possible. Campaigns like “Du bist Deutschland” are a clearly visible farce of a quasi-optimistic view of Germany as it stands today. The problem is: some politicians sincerely think, they have to do something like this (and spend money, that could be invested much more effectively) to cheer people up.
So when some say, that the distribution of wealth is fair, they don’t only mean that they have enough (and therefor it has to be fair) but some do think that by saying positive things, they can actually make things better..