Justice Judgments as Complex Psychocultural Constructions

Abstract

A technique is developed for visually portraying the multidimensional-complex structure of perceptions of distributive justice within any society, based on theoretical assumptions of equity theory. This article outlines a spatial heuristic designed to facilitate cross-cultural exploration and comparison of the fairness maps people use in making contextual judgments about the relative contributions, rewards, and needs of perceived groups within their society. The technique is illustrated using plots of perceptual judgment data from a sample of 5,393 undergraduates, across 19 different cultural contexts. Variations in perceptions of fairness regarding different occupational groups, age categories, social classes, genders, and ethnic groups are explored. Judgments of fair and unfair and equitable and inequitable relationships are operationally defined, consistent with propositions of equity theory, and illustrative comparisons are made between the distributive equity patterns observed in several of the Cross-Cultural Variations in Distributive Justice Perception (CVDJP) cultural samples: Jamaica, Turkey, Estonia, and Taiwan