Equity And Justice In Social Behavior

Equity and Justice in Social Behavior provides a critical assessment of the social psychological knowledge relevant to justice. This book illustrates how the broad concept of justice pervades the core literature of social psychology. Organized into 12 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the primary justice theories and identifies some of the focal issues with which they are concerned. This text then provides the necessary theoretical background for the study. Other chapters consider the various individual difference variables known to affect adherence to social justice norms. This book explains as well how the perceived causes of justice affect attempts to seek redress, and how actors and observers diverge in their perspectives about justice. The final chapter deals with the normative and instrumental interpretations that have been offered to explain justice behavior. This book is a valuable resource for social psychologists, social scientists, philosophers, political actors, theorists, and graduate students.

From July 16 through July 21, 1984 a group of American and West German scholars met in Marburg, West Germany to discuss their com mon work on the topic of justice in social relations. For over 30 hours they presented papers, raised questions about each other's work, and in so doing plotted a course for future research and theory building on this topic. The participants were asked to present work that represented their most recent state-of-the-science contributions in the area. The con tributions to this volume represent refined versions of those presentations-papers that have been improved by the authors' consid eration of the comments and reactions of their colleagues. The result, we believe, is a work that represents the cutting edge of scholarly inquiry into the important matter of justice in social relations. To give the participants the freedom to present their ideas in the most appropriate way, we, the conference organizers and the editors of this volume, gave them complete control over the form and substance of their presentations. The resulting diversity is reflected in this book, where the reader will find critical integrative reviews of the literature, reports of research investigations, and statements of theoretical posi tions. The chapters are organized with respect to the common themes that emerged in the way the authors addressed the issues of justice in social relations. Each of these themes-conflict and power, theoretical perspectives, norms, and applications-is represented by a part of this book.

This book focuses on research-based teaching and learning practices that promote social justice and equity in higher education. The fourth volume in a four-volume series, this book critically addresses virtual and remote classroom settings. Chapters explore contexts within and outside the classroom, including a history of online learning; research on student engagement and perceptions; specific, actionable pedagogical or curriculum recommendations; and the application of traditional learning theories in virtual settings. The volume also explores how online education, through a technopositivist lens, promotes and reinforces sexist, racist, and gendered behaviors, as well as the role of the "student as consumer," troubling education in virtual settings in a way that allows for deeper discussion about how to make virtual education emancipatory and empowering.

This volume was conceived out of the concern with what the imminent future holds for the "have" countries ... those societies, such as the United States, which are based on complex technology and a high level of energy consumption. Even the most sanguine projection includes as base minimum relatively rapid and radical change in all aspects of the society, reflecting adaptation or reactions to demands created by poten tial threat to the technological base, sources of energy, to the life-support system itself. Whatever the source of these threats-whether they are the result of politically endogeneous or exogeneous forces-they will elicit changes in our social institutions; changes resulting not only from attempts to adapt but also from unintended consequences of failures to adapt. One reasonable assumption is that whatever the future holds for us, we would prefer to live in a world of minimal suffering with the greatest opportunity for fulfilling the human potential. The question then becomes one of how we can provide for these goals in that scenario for the imminent future ... a world of threat, change, need to adapt, diminishing access to that which has been familiar, comfortable, needed.

This volume brings together cutting-edge research from emerging and senior scholars alike representing a variety of disciplines that bears on human preferences for fairness, equity and justice. Despite predictions derived from evolutionary and economic theories that individuals will behave in the service of maximizing their own utility and survival, humans not only behave cooperatively, but in many instances, truly altruistically, giving to unrelated others at a cost to themselves. Humans also seem preoccupied like no other species with issues of fairness, equity and justice. But what exactly is fair and how are norms of fairness maintained? How should we decide, and how do we decide, between equity and efficiency? How does the idea of fairness translate across cultures? What is the relationship between human evolution and the development of morality? The collected chapters shed light on these questions and more to advance our understanding of these uniquely human concerns. Structured on an increasing scale, this volume begins by exploring issues of fairness, equity, and justice in a micro scale, such as the neural basis of fairness, and then progresses by considering these issues in individual, family, and finally cultural and societal arenas. Importantly, contributors are drawn from fields as diverse as anthropology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, bioethics, and psychology. Thus, the chapters provide added value and insights when read collectively, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the distinct disciplines as they investigate similar research questions about prosociality. In addition, particular attention is given to experimental research approaches and policy implications for some of society's most pressing issues, such as allocation of scarce medical resources and moral development of children. Thought-provoking and informative, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Fairness, Equity, and Justice is a valuable read for public policy makers, anthropologists, ethicists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and all those interested in these questions about the essence of human nature.

The importance of justice cannot be overstated. As one author has put it, "A better understanding of how justice concerns develop and function in people's lives should enable us to plan more effectively for institutional and other social change to deal with the problems that confront humankind" (S. C. Lerner, 1981, p. 466). The volume in which that statement appeared-an earlier one in this same series-was devoted to exploring the impact that dwindling resources and an increasing rate of change have had upon people's concern for justice. In contrast, the present volume places greater emphasis on the word under standing, as it was used in the context of the preceding quotation, than upon effective planning, social change, and ways of dealing with human problems. Nothing in that statement of purpose is meant to belittle the urgency of translat ing understanding into action, because the social significance of justice concerns is a major factor that has prompted the authors of the chapters in this book to do research in the area. Rather, this volume receives its emphasis from Kurt Lewin's famous dictum there is nothing so practical as a good theory. The need for good theory is ongoing, and these pages are dedicated to a search for new pathways toward better theory.

The International Society for Justice Research (ISJR) aims to provide a platform for interdisciplinary justice scholars who are encouraged to present and exchange their ideas. This exchange has yielded a fruitful advance of theoretical and empirically-oriented justice research. This volume substantiates this academic legacy and the research prospects of the ISJR in the field of justice theory and research. Included are themes and topics such as the theory of the justice motive, the mapping of the multifaceted forms of justice (distributive, procedural) and justice in context-bound spheres (e.g. non-humans). It presents a comprehensive "state of the art" overview in the field of justice research theory and it puts forth an agenda for future interdisciplinary and international justice research. It is worth noting that authors in this proposed volume represent ISJR's leading scholarship. Thus, the compilation of their research within a single framework exposes potential readers to high quality academic work that embodies the past, current and future trends of justice research.

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.