International Social Justice Project Research Articles

Poverty Attributions and the Perceived Justice of Income Inequality

Though the concept of social justice is widely used in the social sciences, we know little about the amount of income inequality that is perceived as just and why perceptions vary across social contexts. In this paper, we argue the ways people define the causes of poverty are related to how they perceive and justify existing income inequality. We examine internal and external attributions of poverty using survey data from the 2006 International Social Justice Project (ISJP). We compare two culturally and structurally distinct regions—East and West Germany. The results support our hypothesis that the amount of income inequality people perceive as just is related to how they explain the causes of poverty, that is, internal and/or external attributions. Poverty attributions are crucial mediators and explain contextual differences in the perceived justice of income inequality between East and West Germany.

Perceived pension injustice: A multidimensional model for two most‐different cases

This article analyses a nationally representative sample of 3,000 respondents from the 2006 wave of the International Social Justice Project to investigate the determinants of citizens' perceptions of the injustice of their country's prevalent pension system. We studied two ‘most‐different’ cases: Israel, a relatively new democracy and demographically young society, and Western Germany, an established democracy and demographically older society. We found that age is negatively associated, and social status positively associated, with reported levels of PPI. Moreover, PPI is higher both when citizens lack intra‐familial social solidarity and when they more strongly endorse pro‐state welfare attitudes. At the same time, there are distinct culture‐specific patterns in PPI, such as the stronger effect of subjective class position and pro‐social family norms in Israel. We explain these by reference to the institutional characteristics of the Israeli pension system and the particularly dominant normative position of the family in Israeli‐Jewish culture.

Legitimacy of Inequality in a Highly Unequal Context: Evidence from the Chilean Case

Economic inequality is usually assumed to be a threat to social cohesion and democracy. Nevertheless, this opposition of inequality and democracy is based on further assumptions such as (a) that people perceive economic inequality accurately, and (b) that, by and large they consider inequality unjust. Research into distributive issues has not found consistent support for neither of these assumptions. Quite the contrary, empirical evidence indicates that economic inequality is widely misperceived and that inequality is to some extent considered legitimate. So far most of the empirical evidence in the area of legitimacy comes from experimental studies in the developed world. The present research aims at widening the scope of legitimacy studies by focusing on Chile as a case country, one of the societies with the highest economic inequality worldwide, guided by the question to what extent is economic inequality considered legitimate in a context of high economic inequality? In addressing this question, and based on previous evidence, the article proposes a way to evaluate (a) the legitimacy of inequality at a country level via survey research, and (b) the role of inequality perception and justice ideologies in the justification of economic inequality. The data to be analyzed is the public opinion survey International Social Justice Project (ISJP), implemented in Chile in the year 2007 (n = 890). Multivariate analysis results reveal signs of legitimacy of inequality in Chile, opening a series of issues regarding the acceptance and stability of unequal distributions.

Deriving equity from expectations: A cross-cultural evaluation

This paper develops and evaluates a new model for predicting just rewards. The model produces point predictions for individual just rewards based on status characteristics and the expected value of a valued good. The equity model borrows from Berger and colleagues’ (1998) reward expectations theory the ability to define different reward expectations. Drawing from Melamed and Walker’s (2010) recent generalization of the mathematics of reward expectations theory, I illustrate how the model generates a continuous distribution of just rewards. The general model is applied to data from thirteen countries using the International Social Justice Project. The results illustrate the predictive power of the model using data from over 10,000 respondents. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Income Inequality and its Consequences for Life Satisfaction: What Role do Social Cognitions Play?

While it is generally agreed that income inequality affects an individual’s well-being, researchers disagree on whether people living in areas of high income disparity report more or less happiness than those in more equal environments, thereby indicating the need to study how and why income inequality matters to the individual’s well-being. Findings on group-specific reaction patterns to income inequality further fuel this need. Alesina et al. (2004) argue that a preference for inequality and the perception of the possibility of social mobility account for the indistinct relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being. Combining this hypothesis with previous research on social cognition and drawing on social justice theory, this paper aims to demonstrate the mediating nature of perceptions of income inequality. It argues that the perceived legitimacy of distributive outcomes and procedures contributes to how income inequalities affect individuals and their sense of well-being. The empirical analysis is based on data from the International Social Justice Project, developed from face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of the German population. Using structural equation modeling, the paper finds structural biases in the perception of income inequality. The paper concludes that subjective well-being is a product of the individual’s perception and legitimating processes. The results indicate that social cognition is a useful tool for studies of income inequality and subjective well-being.

Is Justice Contextual? Married Women’s Perceptions of Fairness of the Division of Household Labor in 12 Nations

Distributive justice theory argues that individuals make fairness decisions partly by comparing themselves to similarly situated others. Utilizing fixed effects analyses of 4,643 married women nested in 12 nations from the l 991 International Social Justice Project, this paper examines whether the relationship between the division of household labor and perceptions of fairness of that division was informed by such comparisons. Specifically, this paper tests whether political history, women’s political representation, and average division of labor within a nation set expectations for the division of household labor against which married women made fairness determinations. Although political history and women’s political representation seem to have been directly influential in constructing fairness determinations in 199 1, married women did not seem to use the expectations of (in)equality as comparison referents. The normative division of labor within a nation did not directly or indirectly influence perceptions of fairness. Nations provide a context within which married women make fairness determinations; setting expectations does not seem to have been the mechanism through which context has historically operated. Additional cross-national research on this topic is warranted.

Different Cohorts and Evaluation of Income Differences in Estonia

The article addresses three main research questions. (1) What attitudes do people entertain in post-socialist Estonia with regard to income inequality? (2) Do the unique formative experiences of different birth cohorts become imprinted in values, making them distinctively different in their evaluations of income inequalities, or do people from different cohorts adapt to changes and are they becoming more similar? (3) Are there any differences in the impact of various individual-level characteristics on the attitudes to inequality of different cohorts? In order to answer these questions, this article compares five birth cohorts with different socialization experiences. The analysis is based on data from the International Social Justice Project of 1991 and 1996 and from the Estonian Social Justice Survey carried out in 2004. The analysis indicates a time-dependent and increasing effect of cohort on attitudes towards income inequality. The cohort effect on the perception and appraisal of income inequality in Estonian society is opposite to previous findings for western welfare regimes, where young people look more critically at income inequality. There are clear indications that the older cohorts in Estonia are more critical concerning income inequality and that these cohort-specific differences cannot be attributed only to the heterogeneous self-interests of individuals belonging to different cohorts. Controlling for effects of self-interest does not considerably reduce the influence of cohort on evaluation of income inequality. Our analysis indicates that the most important mediator of the effect of cohort were justice beliefs.

Cross‐national variations in the division of household labor

Using data from the International Social Justice Project, we describe the division of household labor in married couple households using a sample of 13 nations (N= 10,153). We find significant differences in the division of household labor based upon respondents’ nations of residence. We find support for the time availability approach; households where the wife is employed outside the home for pay are more likely to respond that husbands perform at least half of the household labor. We also find support for the relative resources approach; in households where wives’ education equals or exceeds that of their husbands, husbands are more likely to perform half of the household labor. We find little support for the economic dependence approach. We suggest that future cross‐national research should place individuals in context to determine why there are nation differences in the reported division of household labor.

Fairness matters: social justice and political legitimacy in post‐communist Europe

Much of the social science research on the post‐communist states has focused on the extent to which the populations of the region support democracy and the market, in both the abstract and the real...

Educational systems and perceived social inequality

This paper investigates the effect of intra-generational mobility patterns on collective social action. We start with the assumption that employees tend to collective action in pursuing their economic interests only if their social position is homogeneous, stable in time and characterized by privileges (or structural disadvantages). We believe that patterns of intra-generational mobility (and not only those of inter-generational mobility) are crucial for these preconditions of collective action. These conditions can come into effect only in systems of 'closed positions', where intra-generational mobility is restricted. In systems of open positions, a high degree of intra-generational mobility prevents the existence of homogeneous, stable and privileged social positions. In addition, the institutional arrangements of a given society, especially the educational system, determine to a great extent whether occupational positions are closed or not. In societies with standardized, stratified and differentiated educational systems, intra-generational mobility is restricted by credentialist allocation regimes so that the three conditions are fulfilled and patterns of collective action have a high probability of arising. This hypothesis is tested by an international comparison of effects on perceived social inequality using data from the International Social Justice Project (1991, 1996). It turns out that, as expected, in credentialist countries, educational titles and class position have stronger effects on perceived social inequality than in non-credentialist societies. But it was found that the economic system also plays an important role in the structuring of perceived inequality.

Trends in the Experience of Injustice: Justice Indexes About Earnings in Six Societies, 1991-1996

This paper examines trends in the experience of injustice in six societies—Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East and West Germany, Hungary, and Russia—between 1991 and 1996. Using data collected by the International Social Justice Project, we estimate the justice index, JI1, and its decomposition into the amount of injustice attributable to poverty and the amount of injustice attributable to inequality; and we also examine gender differences in the justice index and its decomposition. The justice index is a summary measure of individuals’ justice evaluations, and therefore the paper also takes a preliminary look at the two basic quantities that underlie the justice evaluation—actual earnings and just earnings—and their determinants, investigating, for the men of East and West Germany, the actual and just returns to schooling and experience in 1991 and 1996.

Perceptions of Poverty and Wealth in Western and Post-Communist Countries

This paper analyzes the felt legitimacy of poverty and wealth in the United States, West Germany, The Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Russia. Several theories on poverty and wealth perception are discussed; of these, dominant ideology theory has been the most influential. This theory can predict the existence not only of a legitimizing ideology in a society, but also of challenging beliefs that incumbents of specific social positions hold. It is argued that poverty and wealth perceptions are more complex, however, involving at least three latent dimensions. Using data from the International Social Justice Project it is demonstrated that, regarding poverty, individuals distinguish between merited, unmerited, and fatalistic types of poverty. Merited poverty is poverty brought about by the individual's own doing or not doing, unmerited poverty is due to forces external to the individual, whereas fatalistic explanations attribute poverty to ascribed properties of the individual. For wealth also there are three causally relevant factors: in addition to merited und unmerited ones, a social capital factor that sees social contacts as a source for determining economic success. Using a structural equation approach and its group comparison option for comparing countries, the different explanations of poverty and wealth are translated into specific measurement models. Testing simultaneously with linear regression models show how preferences for particular explanations are shaped by stratification-related experiences and by the social position of an observer.

Is the "Inner Wall" Here to Stay? Justice Ideologies in Unified Germany

In this paper, value differences in former East and West Germany are studied in order to determine which values can be expected to change, perhaps leading to a gradual convergence of East and West, and which values will resist change for some time to come. If it is true, as some observers say, that the unified Germany is still a divided country—not so much in terms of material living conditions but ideologically, it is attempted to predict in what way the ideological “inner wall” is a fact to be reckoned with even in the future. Based on the International Social Justice Project (ISJP) data from 1991 and 1996, the focus is on particular values—on four justice ideologies: egalitarianism, individualism, ascriptivism, and fatalism which are derived from grid–group theory, and it is tested whether these four ideologies form a common set of beliefs in East and West Germany. Results show that they do, but that East and West Germans have very different ideological preferences within this ideological framework. Therefore it is next tested whether the differences are rooted in cultural distinctions between the East and the West or whether they can be explained by the social positions individuals in East and West Germany hold—and by the rational interests attached to these positions. Using a structural equation approach to examine the genuine east–west effects and the structural effects, we find little evidence for cultural differences but ample evidence for social structural determination. From these findings it is concluded that the ideological “inner wall” running through Germany is bound to fall if living conditions on both sides become even more alike.

Social Inequality and the Perceived Income Justice Gap

This paper attempts to answer the question whether justice evaluations of income inequality in a society are determined more by country differences or by the social position an observer occupies. In very general terms what we study is whether, in shaping justice beliefs, cultural factors are more important than social-structural ones, or vice versa. In view of transformation societies, country differences are conflated with differences in the transformation processes the countries are experiencing. This is why we distinguish different types of transmations with regard to the postcommunist countries of Eastern and Central Europe testing empirically whether these transformation types exert influence on the justice beliefs, and how this influence compares to that of positional effects. With International Social Justice Project (ISJP) data of 1991 and 1996, we study the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, East Germany, and—as a western referent society— West Germany. Main results are that in the early phase of transformation the different transformation types as well as social positions matter in shaping justice evaluations, over time, however, the types of transformation clearly lose influence. In 1996, compared to 5 years earlier, the countries have become similar in that most of the variation in the perception of the income justice must now be attributed to the positional differences of individuals. We conclude that the characteristics of the transformation processes decrease in importance for determining public views about social justice. In this respect, the transformation societies of Eastern and Central Europe may well be on the route to becoming more like western societies.

Views on Social Inequality and the Role of the State: Posttransformation Trends in Eastern and Central Europe

In this paper, trend descriptions of social inequality perceptions and justice beliefs in six transformation societies of Eastern and Central Europe are reported. Based on data of the International Social Justice Project (ISJP), developments from 1991 to 1996 in Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, the Czech Republic, and East Germany are documented and compared to results of the Western countries that participated in the project. It is first shown that in most of the transformation societies social inequality is believed to have increased over the 5-year interval, in particular, due to increase in number of poverty-stricken individuals, and that external “system forces” are made responsible for this development. Has this affected the level of acceptance of the free-market economy as a just-distribution order? In terms of favoring particular distribution rules—equal opportunities, need, individual effort, and merit—the answer is negative because the relative strength of endorsement of these rules has not changed from 1991 to 1996, but there are clear indications that the respondents in the transformation countries tend to see life chances and economic success increasingly determined by factors over which the individual has no control. At the same time, political legitimization in terms of trust in institutions has decayed, whereas, paradoxically, the call for state interventions has become more pronounced. But the demand for the state to intervene and for nonmeritocratic distribution principles is clearly status-dependent and is thus structured similar to what we find in the Western nontransformation societies.

Gender and Country Differences in the Sense of Justice: Justice Evaluation, Gender Earnings Gap, and Earnings Functions in Thirteen Countries

This paper investigates gender and country differences in the sense of justice, focusing on the justice evaluation, the actual and just gender earnings gaps, and the mechanisms by which actual and just earnings are produced. Using data from the International Social Justice Project, the authors estimate actual and just earnings functions separately for the men and women of thirteen countries, obtaining 52 sets of estimates of the base salary and the returns to schooling and experience. To pinpoint similarities and differences across sex and country in determination of the actual and just rewards, they test three sets of parameter-equality hypotheses.

Perceptions, Attributions and Policy in the Economic Domain: A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis

This paper proposes and tests a causal path model for the influence of perceived economic justice upon support for government intervention aimed at reducing inequality. These constructs were linked by a pair of indirect pathways, mediated by social and individual attributions for poverty and wealth, and supplemented by a direct path. According to the model, the respective influences of economic justice upon individual and social attributions were expected to be positive and negative. In their turn, these constructs were expected to have negative and positive influences upon intervention. Using data from 13 countries involved in the International Social Justice Project, the expected pattern of influences was observed. However, only in certain post-communist countries was there evidence for a direct influence of economic justice upon intervention.

After the velvet revolutions. Altered life-chances, fragile legitimacy, and split-consciousness in post-communist Eastern Europe

This article deals with (i) changes in the objective and subjective life-chances of people in Eastern Europe as affected by the transformation of their economic and political systems, and (ii) the emergence of a new dominant meritocratic ideology of distributive justice and the survival of a now old subordinate egalitarian one. We investigate whether, and if so, how and to what degree, changes in people's (perceived) life-chances influence their (de)legitimation of the market economy and the pluralistic system of democracy as well as their (de/re)legitimation of the ancien regime. Especially, the question of whether, and if so, how and under which conditions, a phenomenon that has been called “split-consciousness” will occur with respect to people's choices between those opposing systems is answered. Several hypotheses are presented that deal with the above mentioned topics. The hypotheses are tested empirically by using cross-national data stemming from the International Social Justice Project.

Division of household labour: Facts and judgements

In this paper the division of household labour between partners is analyzed, based on data of the International Social Justice Project of 1990. We compare the results of four countries: Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, and the USA. Explanations for the division of housework may be found in economic and sociological theories. We first provide a short description of these theories. Then the theories are confronted with the data, using ordered response models. Our analysis leads to the conclusion that in The Netherlands and the USA economic variables have a significant effect on the division of houswork, but this is not (yet) the case in Japan and Russia. Next we analyze the perception of justice in the division of housework. First we formulate theories that could tell us when a distribution would be called fair. An equal distribution of paid and unpaid labour is considered very fair by the majority of the Russian, Dutch and American men and women, but not by the Japanese population. According to the Japanese fairness increases if the wives do all the housework and the husbands have a fulltime paid job.

Internationally Comparable Measures of Occupational Status for the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations

This paper provides operational procedures for coding internationally comparable measures of occupational status from the recently published International Standard Classification of Occupation 1988 (ISCO88) of the International Labor Office (ILO, 1990). We first discuss the nature of the ISCO88 classification and its relationship to national classifications used around the world and also to its predecessor, ISCO68 (ILO, 1969), which has been widely utilized in comparative research. We argue that comparative research would gain much from adopting ISCO88 as the standard tool of classification and provide guidance on how to do this. We then outline the procedures we have used to generate new standard recodes for three internationally comparable measures of occupational status: Treiman's Standard International Occupational Prestige Scale (SIOPS), Ganzeboom et al.'s International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI), and Erikson and Goldthorpe's class categories (EGP). To update the SIOPS prestige scores we have directly matched the occupational titles in the SIOPS scale to the categories of the ISCO88 classification. For ISEI scores we have replicated the procedure used to create scores for the ISCO68 categories, employing the same data but using newly developed matches between the underlying national occupational classifications and ISCO88. To construct the EGP class codes we have mapped the ISCO88 occupation categories into a 10-category classification developed by the CASMIN project for a 12-country analysis. To validate these scales, we estimated parameters of a basic status-attainment model from an independent source of data: the pooled file from the International Social Justice Project (a large international data file that combines data from sample surveys in 14 countries). Estimates based on occupational status scales derived from ISCO88 and ISCO68 are highly similar.