I worry for this book. Social Justice? Well, it's difficult isn't it? It is hard to talk and write about, to think and theorise about, and, as we know, it is also difficult to do anything about. Whilst this is not a reason to give up on these things, the difficulties hint at the broader challenge this book faces in appealing to readers. Just like Mark Twain's definition of a ‘classic’ – as something that everybody wants to have read but nobody wants to read – this may come to be regarded more as a book that people consider they ought to read, rather than one they will. And they'd probably be wrong, because it is worth giving this book the attention it requires.

The book is dedicated to the memories of Robina Goodlad, who inspired the original ESRC seminar series from which the chapters have been developed, and to the late social justice theorist Iris Marion Young. The aim of the book, as presented in the excellent opening chapter, is to promote engagement between theories of social justice and real-world policy problems, in a context where a lack of a cross-disciplinary conversation has hampered the quality of debate. The subsequent chapters then seek to frame arguments in political philosophy to illuminate social policy debates.

The opening two chapters provide overview perspectives from political philosophy (Jonathan Wolff) and social policy (David Piachaud). The two chapters survey the main interventions in recent social justice theory – from Rawls, Nozick, Dworkin, Sen and Nussbaum – before attempting to apply the arguments to ‘real-world’ concerns. Piachaud helpfully frames the central questions arising from social justice debates for social policy in terms of time (past, present and future), whilst Wolff suggests that political philosophers need to engage with social policy in order to develop a richer theoretical vocabulary for discussing social justice concerns.

Will Kymlicka examines the relationship between the idea of justice as accommodating diversity and justice in the distribution of resources, and in particular whether the existence of ethnic diversity, and the pursuit of multicultural policies, serves to undermine the sense of solidarity which underpins welfare states. He concludes that multicultural policies should be evaluated in their own terms, and that in any case there is no inevitable trade off between diversity and solidarity. Iris Marion Young's chapter explores issues within the debate on justice as recognition. She argues for theorists to rebalance their attention towards a ‘politics of positional difference’, where groups face structural inequalities as a result of social processes in the division of labour, decision-making processes and in relation to normalising social standards, compared with the recent resurgence of interest in a ‘politics of cultural difference’, where groups face injustice in relation to freedom of cultural expression and practice around nationality, ethnicity and religion. In reviewing recent contributions in social justice theory on the relationship between distributional and relational justice, Ruth Lister then makes a persuasive case for what she calls a ‘politics of redistribution, and of recognition and respect’. Alongside claims for redistribution, the policy implications of this view for poverty include demands for respectful treatment, and a genuine voice in policy development of people with first-hand experience of poverty.

Christopher Bertram argues that Rawls' rather limited conception of the demands of justice beyond ‘self contained societies’ is somewhat anachronistic given the complex relationships that exist between societies across the globe. He offers a global extension of the discussion on social justice, suggesting that principles of distributive justice can be applied globally.

The issue of whether the family as a social institution, and its implied partiality in social relationships, necessarily compromises an egalitarian pursuit of social justice is the subject of Brighouse and Swift's excellent chapter. The authors note the importance of ‘relationship goods’ in parenting, and subject these to a close normative examination in what for me amounts to the contribution which comes closest to the ideal of philosophically informed writing on a vitally important area of social policy. David Gordon critiques academic discussion on distributional justice in economic theory and political philosophy from a child-centred approach. He argues that children have been regarded as possessions of their parents, or as future workers, rather than citizens with independent justice claims. He concludes that children have been almost entirely overlooked in the debates on social justice, which is somewhat ironic given that child poverty is a focal point of social policy in the UK.

How the pursuit of social justice is affected by devolutionary settlements across the UK is the theme of Katie Schmuecker's chapter. It rightly acknowledges that it is an account of the prospects for, and experience of, divergence in policies pursuing social justice, rather than a direct discussion of social justice or outcomes per se. Nonetheless, it is an important reminder that England is not the UK, and adds some important insights on debates around the idea of a ‘postcode lottery’.

Tania Burchardt's contribution is an exemplar in applying complex ideas in social justice theory – the capabilities approach associated with Sen and Nussbaum – into a new policy framework around monitoring different forms of inequality for different groups. This was one of the most challenging, but for me most rewarding, chapters in the book. It helps that it is a clearly written account of the definitional and methodological difficulties in attempting to adopt the capabilities framework in practice, but also highlights the challenge in finding accessible ways to talk about such things as ‘functionings’ and ‘capabilities’.

Gary Craig sets out and manages to provide a clear assessment of whether social justice has been delivered to the UK's black and minority ethnic populations, within a critique of the current media and political penchant for attacking the idea of multiculturalism. Unlike many of the other contributors, Craig helpfully provides an explicit statement of his own view of social justice, based on equal outcomes and participation, before using this as a framework for testing social justice in the UK for minority populations. In the final chapter, Maria Adebowale makes the case for linking environmental justice with social justice, and examines the incorporation of social concerns, such as quality of life and the unequal distribution of ‘bads’, into sustainable development policy. Some important but overlooked linkages enter the debate here, such as the relationship between race and environmental justice.

There is always a concern in edited collections like this about whether the contributions hang sufficiently together. However, the breadth of the book is important for examining social justice claims from a variety of perspectives and dimensions. Inevitably there are gaps. For example, there did not seem to be much discussion about the idea of responsibility, either for the generation of unjust outcomes, or for addressing them. A concluding chapter would have been helpful in summarising key fault lines and discussing where the debates might be taken next, but overall this is an extremely interesting collection of essays which succeeds in its aim of creating a closer dialogue between political philosophy and social policy.