Globalization and the Question of Social Justice

Previous conceptions of social justice presupposed a closed political community in which nation‐states were to be in full control of policy instruments that reinforced mechanisms of social justice. States’ governing capacity to deliver social justice to their citizens has been challenged in the face of deepening transnational interactions and interdependencies in economic, political, and cultural realms, as these interactions and interdependencies directly affect the lives of millions of people. This paper revisits an ongoing debate on Global Social Justice and aims to introduce two clashing views – namely, Minimalist and Cosmopolitan approaches – on whether or not people in affluent societies have distinctive duties of concern for people in less developed countries. After outlining the main contours of the arguments on both sides, the paper concludes by suggesting that the debate can inform different areas of sociological inquiry that are directly related to issues such as power, inequality, and social exclusion.