Social and Economic Justice has been an important curriculum area in social work education for many years, and one that accreditation standards have mandated to be included in the curriculum of accredited programs. 

TThere are many resources on the World Wide Web that address the issue of Social Justice. 

An initial place to begin an exploration of social justice would be on the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) web site:  http://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/issue/peace.asp  At this link, a fact sheet on social justice can be found that describes social justice issues at both the micro and macro levels.  Also on the NASW web site, the social work code of ethics will be found (http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/Code/code.asp).  The Code is based on social justice, among other principles.

The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) is also built around the principle of social justice (http://www.ifsw.org/en/p38000324.html).

One might also begin with the Wikipedia, where a definition of social justice can be found at this link:  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSocial_justice&ei=J30zSOOgMpKsgQKJl4ypBw&usg=AFQjCNF24-FJ1Ma4bd2cbDEv3Xs6E2ln2A&sig2=dZktzq8gL-4p7mpFhWN76w

The Wikipedia also includes a definition of social work as a profession committed to social justice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_services).

In an interesting discussion of three contradictory definitions of social justice, Walter Block, Economics Professor at Loyola University, presents a discussion of social justice that is at variance with the pronouncements of social work educators:  http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block37.html

Social Justice, a journal of Crime, Conflict, and World Order is a journal on social justice issues.   At this web site, tables of contents of issues, with links to some full text articles, can be found.  The link for this site is:  http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/

The Office for Social Justice in St. Paul, MN, http://www.osjspm.org/, has a variety of resources related to social justice, including a section on Catholic Social Teaching, a key point in one of the feature articles in this issue of Update.

The Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service at Georgetown University (http://socialjustice.georgetown.edu/) offers a variety of resources including teaching and research links and a curriculum archive.

Columbia University maintains a site on Social Justice Movements (http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Main_Page) that addresses community based, national and international social justice movements.  There are also links on specific issues (e.g., women and gender, workers rights). 

The Center for Economic and Social Justice (http://www.cesj.org/) addresses international issues, including world poverty and presents an economic view of social and economic justice.