Distributive justice concerns the
socially just
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
allocation of resources. Often contrasted with
just process
Just or JUST may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Just (surname)
* Just (given name)
Arts and entertainment
* ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm
* "Just" (song), a song by Radiohead
* "Just", a song from the album '' Lost and Found'' by Mudv ...
, which is concerned with the administration of law, distributive justice concentrates on outcomes. This subject has been given considerable attention in
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and the
social sciences.
In
social psychology, distributive justice is defined as perceived fairness of how rewards and costs are shared by (distributed across) group members.
For example, when some workers work more hours but receive the same pay, group members may feel that distributive justice has not occurred. To determine whether distributive justice has taken place, individuals often turn to the
behavioral expectations of their group.
[ Forsyth, Donelson R. 2006. "Conflict." Pp. 388–89 in ''Group Dynamics'' (5th ed.), by D. R. Forsyth. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.] If rewards and costs are allocated according to the designated distributive norms of the group, distributive justice has occurred.
Types of distributive norms
Five types of distributive norm are defined by
Donelson R. Forsyth:
# Equality: Regardless of their inputs, all group members should be given an equal share of the rewards/costs. Equality supports that someone who contributes 20% of the group's resources should receive as much as someone who contributes 60%.
# Equity: Members' outcomes should be based upon their inputs. Therefore, an individual who has invested a large amount of input (e.g. time, money, energy) should receive more from the group than someone who has contributed very little. Members of large groups prefer to base allocations of rewards and costs on equity
# Power: Those with more authority, status, or control over the group should re