Geography and Social Justice

Some Reflections on Social Change in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Explicit consideration of social justice has become muted in geography in recent years. Yet social change in various parts of the world, especially Eastern Europe, is generating renewed interest in the question of who should get what, where. This paper provides a brief reminder of the main issues associated with the concept of social justice in general, and of its territorial application. It goes on to consider some of the implications of the introduction of market economies in Eastern Europe and suggests that the privatization of state assets should be guided by explicit principles of social justice. If market exchange relations are to predominate in the distribution of benefits and burdens in these changing societies, it is important to get certain starting conditions which drive markets right, in a moral sense, at the outset.