Social position, ideology, and distributive justice

Abstract

This paper addresses two important questions

Playing Fair: Fairness Beliefs and Health Policy Preferences in the United States

“…The standard view is that several key "ingredients" at the individual level -self-interest, ideology, racial or social group identity, and fundamental social valuescontribute to the public's beliefs and preferences (Kinder and Sanders 1996). The self-interest perspective, which enjoys widespread currency in economics, political science, and psychology, suggests that Americans will support those policies that will help them maximize their short-term individual goals or interests, such as improved financial or health status (see, e.g., Miller and Ratner 1998;Brook, Preston, and Hall 1998;Cnaan et al 1993;d'Anjou, Steijn, and van Aarsen 1995). In fact, political campaigns often center on "pocketbook issues," in an attempt to convince vot- Lynch and Gollust ■ Playing Fair 853 context, usually involve trying to convince middle-class and currently insured Americans that they stand to benefit from health reform because of their vulnerability to rising health care costs or loss of health insurance.)…”

Rising Income Inequality in a Time of Plenty: The Influence of Micro-Justice Standards and Group Membership on Macro-Justice Perceptions

“…The coefficient for the equity items was in the lower range of acceptability, but scales based on similar scores for combined items have been used recently in research on macro-justice perceptions (d'Anjou et al, 1995).…”

Justifications of Inequality: The Normative Basis of Pay Differentials in 31 Nations*

“…With regard to performance, we expect basing pay on effort and performance will generally be thought proper, with few cleavages between nations, classes, or demographic groups. Finally, in terms of education/authority, we expect that rewarding education/authority will be considered relatively appropriate worldwide, but we also expect some 3 Some research and theorizing would combine performance (diligence and doing a good job) with education and authority as a ''merit'' dimension (Benabu, 2000;d'Anjou, Steijn, and van Aarsen, 1995) measuring one dimension of the general distributive justice concept of equity (Alwin, 1992). However, there is evidence from the ''scenarios'' tradition (see earlier description) that many people see them as separate, so we cater to that possibility.…”

“… 3 Some research and theorizing would combine performance (diligence and doing a good job) with education and authority as a “merit” dimension (Benabu, 2000; d'Anjou, Steijn, and van Aarsen, 1995) measuring one dimension of the general distributive justice concept of equity (Alwin, 1992). However, there is evidence from the “scenarios” tradition (see earlier description) that many people see them as separate, so we cater to that possibility.…”