Abstract

The term social justice has received enormous attention worldwide due to its critical impact on economies. Whereas some studies consider it as a fundamental issue in the human race, others regard it as prerequisite to peace and tranquility to a modern society. Over the past five decades, social injustice has been on the ascendancy as emerging countries rely on developed countries for survival of their economies. Since these dependencies by poor countries come at a cost, the developing economies continue to expand in their debt ratio to developed countries. At least since the Second World War (1939-45) and in some cases since the beginning of the twentieth century, there has been a general widening of the gap between the rich and the poor with no signs of these income differences closing anytime soon. In an emerging economy with high prospects for developing human resources like Ghana, social justice is considered a bedrock for healthy and sustainable living conditions. However, there have been high levels of injustice measured in terms of income-related inequalities, notably in the ownership of capital and other assets, accessibility of variety of basic services and other benefits, and personal security that hitherto money could not buy. This paper examines the extent to which social injustice is perceived to be prevalent in the Ghanaian economy (once a colony).

Key words: Social justice, growth, economy, human resources.