Document Type

Junior Honorable Mention

Award Date

Spring 2013

Course Name

Idea of the Individual

Teacher

Dr. Adam Kotlarczyk

Abstract

In regards to most current and past social discrepancies, such as between races and sexes, people tend to protest in favor of all individuals being treated equally. However, as demonstrated in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, striving for utter equal treatment in hope of achieving social justice is not necessarily conducive to an uncontestable, utopian society. Social justice, as thoroughly defined by the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley, categorizes social justice as a process that “empowers all people to exercise self-determination and realize their full potential…and builds social solidarity and community capacity for collaborative action” (School of Social Welfare – UC Berkeley). Therefore, despite the perceived implementation of social equality, the societies in Brave New World and Harrison Bergeron do not achieve social justice, as its two main components are violated significantly and consistently.

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