Capitalism and Injustice As Seen through the Lens of Massive Inequality and the Marikana Massacre

Capitalism and Injustice - As Seen Through the Lens of Massive Inequality and The Marikana Massacre

The paper explores the relationship of capitalism and injustice, doing so through the lens of South Africa’s massive social inequalities and the 2012 massacre of 34 strikers by the South African Police. These inequalities are extreme but they are not exceptional, and Spain, among others, now has a higher rate of unemployment than South Africa. Treated as what William Sewell defines as, an ‘event’, the massacre is used to reveal key aspects of social structure. Different meanings of ‘injustice’ are discussed and these are related to the workings of capitalism.