An Integrative Etic-Emic Approach to Portraying the Halutziut System of Societal Equity

Based on equity theory and sociocultural conditions, this study depicts the Israeli system of societal equity from the perspective of the ethos of halutziut (Jewish pioneering).This ethos, which under scores the individual’s contribution to the enhancement of collective goals, has created a correspondence between hierarchically valued signifiers of societal contribution (e.g., military service) and social groupings defined along gender, ethnic, age, and professional lines. This study used multivariate analysis, and Powell’s technique for measuring and spatially portraying respondents’ perceptions of societal equity. Results supported the expected pioneering hierarchy of groupings, mainly among Jewish respondents. Arab respondents differed in their perceptions of groupings associated with Jewish pioneering but were similar regarding other groupings. There is some evidence that perceptions of the contribution and rewards of several groupings, such as social class and gender, may converge across different sociocultural contexts.

Culture and the Sense of Justice

This article examines the intersection of culture and the sense of justice, summarizing a cumulative framework for analyzing human justice judgments that has emerged from several decades of social science research. It outlines a comprehensive guide to the terms and factors where culture may manifest itself and proposes a protocol for discerning the operation of culture. Methodological issues related to the conceptualization and operationalization of justice processes are addressed throughout. The first section develops a framework for justice analysis, distinguishing between ingredients thought to be universal and ingredients in which culture may operate. The second section discusses deductive theories in justice analysis and provides an illustration, in which one of the theories yields implications for individualism and collectivism, thus showing how justice processes can generate phenomena that come to be viewed as culturally based. The concluding section briefly discusses agendas and research designs for empirical analysis of justice and culture.

Beyond Left-Right Ideology in the Study of Justice Perception

This article outlines an alternative to traditional left-right ideological spectrum approaches to studying political opinion formation and distributive justice perception within cultures, highlighting instead the tension that exists between an interdependence distributive worldview focused on intimacy and social connectedness, and an independence distributive worldview focused on personal control and mastery over one’s life space. Employing data from the Cross-Cultural Variations in Distributive Justice Perception project, (a) quantitative measures of individual differences in personality orientations and (b) qualitative-interpretive measures of word-use patterns (in discussing distributive fairness issues) are applied within two exemplary cultural contexts (Jamaica, New Zealand) to examine the potential utility of the interdependence-independence model as a viable explanatory alternative to left-right theories of justice orientation. Profiles are constructed of salient features differentiating the distributive worldviews of interdependents and independents in Jamaica and New Zealand, and implications of this model are drawn for the study of distributive justice perception processes across cultures

Reward and Punishment Allocation in the Indian Culture

Two scenario studies examined justice perceptions in Indian samples. Study 1 investigated the effect of allocator-recipient relationship and internal/external locus of merit and need on both reward and punishment allocation in a distributive context, involving a meritorious and a needy recipient. Between merit, need and equality, subjects showed a clear equality orientation, in both allocation rule preference and perceived fairness of a given allocation. This finding was inconsistent with the strong need orientation reported in several Indian studies. In order to obtain more information on punishment alone, Study 2 was conducted in order to investigate a non-distributive context, involving internal/external locus of merit and need, and choice of punishment and perceived fairness of a given set of punishments, seriousness of the offence, guilt of the offender and the importance of need and merit. In both studies, the effect of situational variables did not emerge as expected. The apparent absence of effects of the situational variables was interpreted as the expression of a cognitive strategy to combine all the contextual information. The equality orientation found in Study 1 was interpreted as the resultant of such a combination. One part of this combination was in terms of the merit and need rules. It was suggested that subjects thought in terms of merit and need, instead of merit or need. Some evidence for this suggestion was obtained in Study 2. Need and merit were rated as being similar in importance when deciding a fair punishment. Attention was drawn to several aspects of justice perception, especially those related to punishment that requires further detailed investigation with modified methods.

Restoring Rape Survivors: Justice, Advocacy, and a Call to Action

Rape results in mental and physical health, social, and legal consequences. For the latter, restorative justice-based programs might augment community response, but they generate controversy among advocates and policy makers. This article identifies survivors' needs and existing community responses to them. Survivors feel their legal needs are most poorly met due to justice system problems that can be summarized as attrition, retraumatization, and disparate treatment across gender, class, and ethnic lines. Empirical data support each problem and the conclusion that present justice options are inadequate. The article concludes by identifying common ground in advocacy and restorative justice goals and calls for a holistic approach to the needs of rape survivors that includes advocating for expanded justice alternatives. A call to action is issued to implement restorative alternatives to expand survivor choice and offender accountability. Conventional and restorative justice are often viewed as mutually exclusive whereas the author argues they are complementary.