Social Injustices in 1984

This is a Telescreen. Placed in every home of Party members and the public, it is similar to a television, where the Party can broadcast their propaganda to the Oceanian citizens. However, it has another role besides broadcasting propaganda- it is a monitoring surveillance instrument. The Party can see and hear anything on the other end of the telescreen, to search for any rebellious activity. Furthermore, no telescreens can be turned off (Except for Inner Party telescreens), which means that everyone is under strict, constant surveillance by the Thought Police.

The elimination of privacy and constant monitoring is just one example of the social injustices that George Orwell creates in his dystopian world of 1984. If I could sum what social injustices Orwell was trying to describe, in one word, totalitarianism. Totalitarianism- the political system of the government holding control over everything in the state- is not an injustice by itself, but many other injustices sprout from totalitarian governments. Although there are too many injustices in the novel to include all, the most notable examples are the Constant Monitoring, Fear, and Disinformation.

For example, dictators and dictatorships fear rebellion. As a solution, many tyrannical governments in history have used monitoring and surveillance to keep their subjects in check, to ensure that there are no hidden plots to overthrow their rule. Although George Orwell used telescreens and microphones and exaggerated the injustice of privacy and surveillance to extreme measures, he gets the message across.

Also, George Orwell portrays the idea of dictators using fear to obtain their needs. In 1984, the Thought Police are a feared secret police organization, monitoring and later arresting any individuals suspected of thinking crime (Called Thoughtcrime, therefore Thought police). These individuals are sent to the ministry of Love, interrogated and then tortured until they confess. If they continue to resist, the individuals are sent to Room 101, where they face the worst nightmare of their lives. These rumors (Later proven to be true) are spread among the society, and people become so frightened of the Party that they fear thinking crime itself.

Lastly, Disinformation is a frequently-used tactic applied by the Party to manipulate the population. Many times during the story, Winston (While working at the Ministry of Truth) changes production records to fit the Party's agenda. For example, he comes across a report regarding the production of boots, and while it says that the production of boots has over fulfilled the estimate by about 62 million pairs, Winston changes the status to 57 million pairs, while knowing that very likely no boots had been produced at all, "as about half the population of Oceania went barefoot." By giving citizens false information about different statistics, the Party satisfies the citizens, although nothing much has actually improved.

Also, no ordinary citizen is allowed to interact with anyone from the other superstates, so that citizens do not realize that their lives are no better than their enemies, or maybe even worse. No citizen actually knows first-hand about the course of the war between the superstates- for all they know, Oceania could actually be losing the war. By not allowing any ordinary citizen to obtain the truth, the Party successfully uses disinformation to manipulate the population.