Coffee Economics And Social Justice Lessons

The economics of coffee present significant lessons in the understanding of the concept of justice. The patterns and differences in the production of coffee and the general culture of the consumption of coffee are linked to the aspects of justice. This study compares coffee production in Ethiopia and Vietnam and highlights key issues of justice.

Nancy Fraser developed a theory of social justice that has lasted for over a decade. In this theory, Fraser explains that the underpinning concept of social justice is equal autonomy which emphasizes freedom to participate at par with other people in the social life (Cornway et al 2009). The administration of justice seeks to offer parity and fairness to the greatest number of the people (Shannon &Tornqvist 2008).

Distributive justice is meant to enhance equitable share of resources to the less privileged in the society. Inequalities in the economy and in justice are sought to be addressed through distributive justice. According to Eisenkopf et al (2013), distributive justice inequalities affect the redistribution of resources in education, and this is equally applicable in the coffee industry. In examining the demand vs supply of coffee, it’s evident that coffee is largely produced in the developing countries while the main consumers are the developed nations accounting for over 150 million people in America consuming the beverage (Thurston et al 2013)

It has been common for the rich and the wealthy to benefit from the justice system (Eisenkopf et al 2013). In established criminal justice system, the wealthy people have often while the poor, uneducated people have failed victims of the justice system (Chahboun 2017). The concept of meritocracy in education, for instance, implies that favouritism is existent in the current structure and economies (Eisenkopf et al 2013). In the coffee sector, there is a clear inequality in the production of coffee from one country to the other. In Ethiopia, coffee farming is labour intensive with traditional faming method being used in the growing of the product (Hirons et al 2018). The situation in Vietnam however, is different since coffee farming in the country is capital intensive with modern farming methods being utilized in coffee farming (Nguyen et al 2019).

Huge investments have been channelled to run the justice system: In countries with institutionalized justice systems, the governments have increasingly invested heavily in the running and management of the judicial systems. In pursuit of social justice, institutionalisation efforts have been channelled towards building prisons and courts, and hiring and training of judicial officers (Shank 2014). Equally, the coffee industry is a leading income generator to both the countries exporting the coffee and the manufacturing companied involved in processing green coffee beans to finished products and the entire supply chain which entails growing, harvesting, hulling, drying and packaging, bulking, blending and roasting with intermediaries benefiting from the process (Naylor 2018)

Activist organizations have heightened their efforts in advocating for the observance of the rights and consideration of fairness in justice administration to the poor unprivileged civilians (Chahboun 2017). These efforts have coupled with advocacy for the perceived victims of justice who are largely the marginalized, minority and poor members of the society. This borrows heavily from the Coffee economies. In Ethiopia, besides the coffee industry accounting for billions of income generated, the small scale farmers have remained poor since they have been forced to sell their products at very cheap prices, below the cost of production and worse still, countless brokers have heavily benefitted from their toil (Hirons et al. 2018). The world fair trade organization is one such entity championing for economic justice in the coffee sector through standardization of coffee prices and linking the farmers directly to the producers of processed coffee thus eliminating numerous brokers (Josephs 2013). In the justice field, organizations such as Amnesty international, UNHCR have constantly championed for the rights of victims of the justice system (Saade 2015).

Conclusion

The case of the demand and supply of Coffee undoubtedly presents a similar picture on the concept of justice. Key similarities have been established in this essay. However, just like in the coffee industry, the desired fairness in justice administration is yet to be achieved and the level of dissatisfaction and mistrust of the poor in the justice system persists, just like the small scale farmer keeps suffering, with others abandoning coffee farming altogether, despite the increasing consumption of the beverage and the billions of income generated from the consumption of coffee.

Part 2: Reflection on study skills

In my past study, I have learned the skill of reading and listening. This skill entails reading a particular piece of work, encoding by paraphrasing the idea of the author according to my understanding, critically linking the piece of work to the entire subject and pondering about the work which occurs through thinking, discussing with classmates or reading other related materials. However, I would suggest that the tutor help me adopt the keyword and visual imagery skills. Keyword skill is also known as summary and will help me condense large amount of information into short notes. On the other hand, visual imagery will enable me to remember information that is largely relayed through verbal means such as during lectures.

References

• Chahboun, N. (2017). Three Feasibility Constraints on the Concept of Justice. Res Publica, 23(4), 431-452.Conway, J. and Singh, J. (2009) ‘Is the World Social Forum a Transnational Public Sphere?: Nancy Fraser, Critical Theory and the Containment of Radical Possibility’, Theory, Culture & Society. London, England: SAGE Publications, 26(5), pp. 61–84. doi: 10.1177/0263276409106350.
• Eisenkopf, G., Fischbacher, U. and Föllmi-Heusi, F. (2013) ‘Unequal opportunities and distributive justice’, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. Elsevier B.V, 93(C), pp. 51–61. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.07.011
• Hirons, M. et al. (2018) ‘Pursuing climate resilient coffee in Ethiopia – A critical review’, Geoforum. Elsevier Ltd, 91, pp. 108–116. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.02.032.
• Josephs, L. (2013) ‘Coffee-Bean Prices Sag as Stockpiles Build --- Supply Exceeds Demand, Sending Arabica Coffee to a 33-Month Low; a Market That's 'Just Death Warmed Over'’, Wall Street Journal, p. C.6. Available at: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1317392779/.
• Naylor, L. (2018) ‘Fair trade coffee exchanges and community economies’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. London, England: SAGE Publications, 50(5), pp. 1027–1046. doi: 10.1177/0308518X18768287.
• Nguyen Hung Anh et al. (2019) ‘Toward Sustainability or Efficiency: The Case of Smallholder Coffee Farmers in Vietnam’, Economies. MDPI AG, 7(3). doi: 10.3390/economies7030066.
• Saadé, E. (2015). The concept of justice and equality: On the dispute between John Rawls and Gerald Cohen (Practical philosophy; Volume 20).
• Shank, G. (2014) ‘Social Justice’, Peace Review. Taylor & Francis, 26(4), pp. 520–524. doi: 10.1080/10402659.2014.972258