1、社會發展的三大理論
In the 19th century, three great classical theories of social and historical change were created: the sociocultural evolutionism, the social cycle theory and the Marxist historical materialism theory. Those theories had one common factor: they all agreed that the history of humanity is pursuing a certain fixed path, most likely that of the social progress. Thus, each past event is not only chronologically, but causally tied to the present and future events. Those theories postulated that by recreating the sequence of those events, sociology could discover the laws of history.
2、社會發展階段I：殖民主義
The first process was colonialism. Although imperial powers settled most differences of opinion with their colonial subjects with force, increased awareness of non-Westem people raised new questions for European scholars about the nature of society and culture. Similarly, effective administration required some degree of understanding of other cultures. Emerging theories of sociocultural evolution allowed Europeans to organize their new knowledge in a way that reflected and justified their increasing political and economic domination of others: colonized people were less evolved, colonizing people were more evolved. When the 17th-century, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes described primeval man as living in conditions in which there are “no arts, no letters, no society” and his life as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, he was very much proclaiming a popular conception of the “savage”. Everything that was good and civilized resulted from the slow development out of this state. Even rationalistic philosophers like Voltaire implicitly assumed that enlightenment gradually resulted in the upward progress of humankind.
3、社會發展階段II：工業革命
The second process was the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism which allowed and promoted continual revolutions in the means of production. Emerging theories of sociocultural evolution reflected a belief that the changes in Europe wrought by the Industrial Revolution and capitalism were obvious improvements. Industrialization, combined with the intense political change brought about by the French Revolution, U.S. Constitution and Polish Constitution of May 3,1791,which were paving the way for the dominance of democracy, forced European thinkers to reconsider some of their assumptions about how society was organized.
4、社會公正的概念
Social justice refers to the concept of a society in which justice is achieved in every aspect of society, rather than merely the administration of law. It generally refers to a society which affords individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of it. It can also refer to the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society.
5、社會公正的內涵
Social justice is both a philosophical problem and an important issue in politics, religion and civil society. Most individuals wish to live in a just society, but different political ideologies have different conceptions of what a “just society” actually is. The term “social justice” is often employed by the political left to describe a society with a greater degree of economic egalitarianism, which may be achieved through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or property redistribution. The right wing also uses the term social justice, but generally believes that a just society is best achieved through the operation of a free market, which they believe provides equality of opportunity and promotes philanthropy and charity. Both right and left tend to agree on the importance of rule of law, human rights, and some form of a welfare safety net.
6、對社會公正的反對
Social justice may be unfeasible economically. Many water-poor countries have recognized a “basic right to have drinking water” and then provided that access accordingly. This often resulted in water sources being over-used and then decimated.
On the other hand, some scholars reject the very idea of social justice as meaningless, religious, self-contradictory, and ideological, believing that to realize any degree of social justice is unfeasible, and that the attempt to do so must destroy all liberty. The most complete rejection of the concept of social justice comes from the Friedrich Hayek of the Austrian School of Economics: “The phrase ‘social justice’ is simply a semantic fraud from the same stable as People’s Democracy.” The purported goal of social justice is to eliminate economic inequities, but because these inequities are largely a result of individuals’ own choices, they can only be corrected by controlling said choices.
7、對社會公正的批評
Criticism of the idea that there is an objective standard of social justice has come from several circles. First, there are moral relativists （such as the Sophists）, who do not believe that there is any kind of objective standard for justice in general. Second, there are cynics who believe that any ideal of social justice is ultimately a mere justification for the status quo. Third, there are libertarians who believe that social justice violates the non-aggression principle. Additionally, postmodernism has also developed its own critique of the concept of social justice.
Many other people accept some of the basic principles of social justice, such as the idea that all human beings have a basic level of value, but disagree with the elaborate conclusions that may or may not follow from this. One example is the statement by H. G. Wells that all people are “equally entitled to the respect of their fellowmen”.
8、社會契約與契約理論
According to the will theory of contract, which was dominant in the 19th century and still exerts a strong influence, a contract is not presumed valid unless all parties agree to it voluntarily, either tacitly or explicitly, without coercion. A supposed social contract cannot be used to justify governmental actions such as taxation, because government will initiate force against anyone who does not wish to enter into such a contract. As a result, such an agreement is not voluntary and therefore cannot be considered a legitimate contract at all.
However, the philosophical concept of social contract does not address the same issues as present-day juridical contract theory, making the name “social contract” potentially misleading. For this reason some thinkers preferred the term “social compact”. The key notion of social contract or compact is that the individual consents by entering or remaining on the dominion of an existing society, which is usually a geographic territory, in much the same way one does when entering or remaining in someone’s household or private property. People are normally brought up from childhood to respect the boundaries of societies, including families, and the rules made by them for their territorial spaces. That is part of the socialization development process.
9、對社會契約的違反
The social contract and the civil rights it gives us are neither “natural” nor permanently fixed. Rather, the contract itself is a means towards an end—the benefit of all—and is only legitimate to the extent that it meets the general interest. Therefore, when failings are found in the contract, we renegotiate to change the terms, using methods such as elections and legislature.
Since rights come from agreeing to the contract, those who simply choose not to fulfill their contractual obligations, such as by committing crimes, risk losing some of their rights, and the rest of society can be expected to protect itself against the actions of such outlaws. To be a member of society is to accept responsibility for following its rules, along with the threat of punishment for violating them. Most of us are comfortable with laws punishing behavior that harms people because we are concerned about others harming us and don’t plan on harming others. In this way, society works by “mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon”.
10、社會理論：機會均等
In the pursuit of a meritocracy, pursuit of equal opportunity is essential. Equal opportunity is often considered separate from basic freedoms. For example, freedom of speech is usually not within the realm of equal opportunity but rather within basic rights.
Equal opportunity consists of additional elements crucial to a meritocracy, such as:
1.Consideration for employment, housing, and education free from immutable characteristics such as race, age, or disability;
2.Equal access to goods and services from the government.
11、實現機會均等是困難的
In practice, methods for fulfilling equal opportunity can be less than complete or ineffective. Indeed, the means by which to measure the success or failure of equal opportunity policies is unclear. Opportunity itself is often difficult—if not impossible—to accurately measure. Thus, in practice, equal opportunity is said to exist when people with similar abilities reach similar results （equality of outcome） after doing a similar amount of work. Indeed, equal opportunity and equality of outcome are often seen as complementary. Other societal traditions interfere with equality of opportunity, however; for example, as long as wealth, and thus opportunities, can be passed from one generation to another through inheritance, it is unclear how equality of outcome would come about for two children of similar ability, one born into the elite class and one born into the middle or lower class.
12、社會福利
A social welfare provision refers to any program which seeks to provide a minimum level of income, service or other support for disadvantaged people such as the poor, the elderly, the disabled, students, unpaid workers such as mothers and other caregivers, and underprivileged groups. Social welfare programs are undertaken by governments as well as non-governmental organizations （NGOs）. Social welfare payments and services are typically provided free of charge or at a nominal fee, and are funded by the state, benefactors or by compulsory enrollment of the poor themselves.
13、福利社會
States or nations that provide comprehensive social welfare programs are often identified as having a welfare state. In such countries, access to social welfare services is often considered a basic and inalienable right to those in need. In many cases these are considered natural rights, and indeed that position is borne out by the UN Convention on Social and Economic Rights and other treaty documents. Accordingly, many people refer to welfare within a context of social justice, making an analogy to rights of fair treatment or restraint in criminal justice.
14、七大社會福利類型
Examples of social welfare services include the following:
1.Compulsory superannuation savings programs.
2.Compulsory social insurance programs, often based on income, to pay for the social welfare service being provided: these are often incorporated into the taxation system and may be inseparable from income tax.
3.Pensions or other financial aid, including social security and tax relief, to those with low incomes or inability to meet basic living costs, especially those who are raising children, elderly, unemployed, injured, sick or disabled.
4.Free or low cost nursing, medical and hospital care for those who are sick, injured or unable to care for themselves. This may also include free antenatal and postnatal care. Services may be provided in the community or a medical facility.
5.Free or low cost public education for all children, and financial aid, sometimes as a scholarship or pension, sometimes in the form of a suspensory loan, to students attending academic institutions or undertaking vocational training.
6.The state may also fund or operate social work and community based organizations that provide services that benefit disadvantaged people in the community.
7.Welfare money paid to persons, from a government, who are in need of financial assistance but who are unable to work for pay.
15、司法機關和社會福利
Police, criminal courts, prisons, and other parts of the justice system are not generally considered part of the social welfare system, while child protection services are. There are close links between social welfare and justice systems as instruments of social control. Those involved in the social welfare system are generally treated much like those in the justice system. Assistance given to those in the justice system is more about allowing an individual to receive fair treatment rather than social welfare. While being involved in the justice system often excludes an individual from social welfare assistance, those exiting the justice system, such as released prisoners, and families of those involved in the justice system are often eligible for social welfare assistance because of increased needs and increased risk of recidivism if the assistance is not provided. In some countries, improvements in social welfare services have been justified by savings being made in the justice system, as well as personal healthcare and legal costs.
16、人類發展理論
Human development theory is a theory that merges older ideas from ecological economics, sustainable development, welfare economics, and feminist economics. It seeks to avoid the overt normative politics of most so-called “green economics” by justifying its theses strictly in ecology, economics and sound social science, and by working within a context of globalization.
It focuses on measuring well-being and detecting uneconomic growth that comes at the expense of human health. However, it goes further in seeking not only to measure but to optimize well-being by some explicit modeling of how social capital and instructional capital can be deployed to optimize the overall value of human capital in an economy—which is itself part of ecology. The role of individual capital within that ecology, and the adaptation of the individual to live well within it, is a major focus of these theories.