Alleviating Need Pressures and Creating Opportunities
摘要
South Africa’s moral crisis can only be resolved if environmental factors that put strain on society’s moral fabric are addressed, and ways are found to create an environment where people can flourish. To do this, structural reforms are required. So long there are no social structures in place to alleviate pressure and create opportunities, attempts to develop citizens with virtue-centred moral identities will encounter difficulties. This chapter identifies the need in South Africa to strengthen social safety nets, to slow-down rapid population growth, improve law enforcement, and increase both the quality and the availability of mental health support. The discussion makes various recommendations based on social ethical considerations. The chapter also discusses the importance of addressing chronic poverty by improving the quality, availability and accessibility of opportunity structures. Opportunity structures must be designed in a way that allows the weakest members of society to accumulate economic, social and cultural capital.