SOCIAL JUSTICE – BETWEEN PARTICIPATION AND EXCLUSION Małgorzata Orłowska e-mail: malgorzata.m.orlowska@gmail.com University of Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland Abstract. The idea of social justice is controversial for many people. It would seem that its spirit stands in contrast with a market economy. However, the social justice is and may be one of the main pillars of the market economy and its inclusion in the social life of the excluded would become an economic asset. Therefore the goal of this paper is to outline the proposal of discourse about social justice in contemporary social policy and social economy. Key words: social justice, social exclusion, education, social policy, European social model. Introduction The modern world is experiencing a lot of social life phenomena. They seem to be marginalized long time ago and should be forgotten. Unfortunately, this is not the case despite obvious economic and social achievements, which sig- nifcantly improve the quality of human life. Many social issues are coming back with their redoubled force. Such is the social exclusion with its all gener - ated dysfunctions like: poverty, lack of work, limited social participation and many others (Orłowska 2005). In this situation societies undertake different types of public social intervention in order to mitigate the effects of exclusion. These interventions work for the inclusion of the excluded (Orłowska 2015 a, b). Apart from axiological reasons, this is the economic calculation that sug- gests the need to incorporate the public life participants, who are marginalized, in the social and economic life. 1. Social justice as a pillar of a market economy According to many contemporary economists, the social market economy is based on many pillars. One of them, next to the subsidiarity and solidarity, is the principle of social justice. Its regulatory role consists of many functions, in- cluding control of social tensions. Thanks to it there are created conditions for the harmonious cooperation of opposing principles of the social market econo- my: competition and equality (Leśniak-Moczuk 2004). Within efforts aiming at the inclusion, numerous concepts and instruments of social intervention appeal to universal norms and values – one of them is the concept of social justice. It has become – apart from civil rights – one of