This article examines the way in which norms of distributive justice depend on the type of interaction in the family group and on its position in the socio-economic hierarchy. Based on a family typology constructed around notions of `internal cohesion', `mode of regulation', and `style of integration in the environment', the authors first show that these types of interaction are closely associated with the socio-economic category to which families belong. They then examine the correlation between these types and the principles of distributive justice judged legitimate, the place occupied by procedural justice in the decision, and the modes of comparison between actors.
1. What are the norms of distributive justice to be found in contemporary families? Do they vary according to the socioeconomic status of the spouses, and according to the type of family cohesion? These are the two questions addressed in this article, in which an exploratory study of 107 families is used (Kellerhals et al. 1986) to advance some elements of response.
At the border-line of sociologies of law and moral life, analyzing the sociogenesis of popular representations of basic normative categories such as contract, legitimacy, responsibility, equity, etc. can play a decisive part in the comprehension of the dynamics of normative systems. It is in this perspective that interest is here focused on the variations — according to group types — in the representations and practices of distributive justice. More precisely, by the means of a study of the solutions given to problematic family situations, it is attempted to show how justice principles and criteria, applied by the actors, can be completely changea according to the nature of interactions within the group. A theoretical examination of the principal stages of the "judgment" of distributive justice within the group is first carried out. It is then shown how preferential actualization of a particular principle of justice — merit, need or membership — depends on the form of cohesion of the group, the type of interindividual adaptation and coordination as well as the nature of the group integration with the social environnement.
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