Chinese Journal of Sociology

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Perceptions of Distributive Justice of the Residents in Contemporary China’s Large Cities: An Empirical Study Based on the Survey in Shanghai.

Wang Fuqin, Mobile Postdoctoral Center of Architecture, Department of Sociology, School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University.
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  1. Wang Fuqin, Mobile Postdoctoral Center of Architecture, Department of Sociology, School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University.
  • Online:2011-05-20 Published:2011-05-20
  • Contact: Wang Fuqin, Mobile Postdoctoral Center of Architecture, Department of Sociology, School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University. E-mail:wfq0927@163.com 
  • About author:Wang Fuqin, Mobile Postdoctoral Center of Architecture, Department of Sociology, School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University.
  • Supported by:

    This research was funded by the Education Ministry’s key subject research project “China’s Current Social Class Study” (08JZD0024), China’s social science fund project “Income Distribution and Social Justice Study” (06BSH049) and “Study of Benefit Conflict and Coordination between Social Groups during the Development of a Harmonious Society” (KRH3548032).

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Abstract:

Based on the selfinterest theory and attribution theory, this study analyzed the data from the “Survey of Social Class and Social Awareness of Shanghai Residents” conducted by the Department of Sociology at Shanghai University in downtown areas of Shanghai between August 2006 and January 2007 to examine the perceptions of distributive justice of the residents in contemporary China’s large cities and the mechanisms for the formation of such perceptions. The study discovered that the residents in large cities clearly perceived the income distribution across major social groups as unfair. Whether or not a social class possessed a dominant status did not correlate with people’s perceptions of distributive justice but people’s socioeconomic status and their attribution for social inequality did. Those with an advantageous economic status not only directly affected people’s perceptions of distributive justice but such an effect could also be indirect through people’s preferred mode of attribution of social inequality. Furthermore, the effect of attribution mode was larger than that of socioeconomic status: The more likely a person was to attribute social inequality to individual performance (internal causes), the more likely that person tended to have a strong sense of distributive justice. On the other hand, the more likely a person was to attribute social inequality to power or policies (external causes), the more likely that person tended to have a strong sense of distributive injustice.

Key words: attribution of inequality, income distribution, sense of fairness, socioeconomic status