Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2012, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6): 108-134.

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Chinese People’s Perception of Distributive Justice in Transitional China: Outcome Justice and Opportunity Justice

  

  1. MENG Tianguang，School of Government，Peking University.
  • Online:2012-11-20 Published:2012-11-20
  • Contact: meng.tianguang@gmail.com. E-mail：meng.tianguang@gmail.com. E-mail:meng.tianguang@gmail.com
  • Supported by:

    This paper was supported by 2010 Project of the National Social Science Foundation of China “The Study on the Relationship between Citizen’s Political Psychology and Political Stability” (10BZZ016) and “National Programs on Cultivating High Level University Graduate Students” of China Scholarship Council.

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Abstract:

Perception of distributive justice, or people’s perception of the distribution status of valued resources, is particularly important in a society under transition. Since the implementation of Reform and Opening Policy, China has followed her transitional strategy of “economic development being the center” and the basic principle of “giving priority to efficiency with due consideration to fairness” in the distribution system. However, this strategy for transition has led to unequal growth in China. How people perceive the distribution status in transitional society not only determines the legitimacy of the reform but also affects the design of basic economic and social systems in the country. Considering the multidimensional nature of distributive justice, this paper attempts to explore the public perception of outcome justice and opportunity justice. To be specific, the paper empirically examines the national survey data in 2009 regarding the Chinese people’s perception of outcome justice and opportunity justice, and further analyzes the relationship between the two. Next, the paper provides some explanations from the perspectives of social structure and relative deprivation. Most Chinese people have acknowledged the descriptions of  both outcome justice (58.18%) and opportunity justice (59.07%) as expressed. However, it is worth noting that there is still a considerable proportion of the population who perceive the injustice in both types of justice in current China. Public perception of opportunity justice is better than that of outcome justice but their positive correlation is quite weak. Statistical results show some interesting findings. Firstly, perception of both types of justice is affected by social structure, but their causal mechanisms differ. Pertaining to the perception of outcome justice, it is positively correlated with income, the most significant factor in social structure. Those with higher education are relatively less likely to express perception of outcome justice. Regarding the perception of opportunity justice, it is independent of income but is strongly correlated with education level in the positive direction. Urban lower middle level employed groups, like non-skilled workers, service workers, and self-employed entrepreneurs, are more critical of both outcome justice and opportunity justice. Danwei differences are not related to the perception of outcome justice but to the perception of opportunity justice. Employees of foreign and private owned units are more likely to express opportunity justice than their counterparts in state and collective owned units. In short, perception of outcome justice is determined by income, but perception of opportunity justice is mainly affected by education. Secondly, the paper affirms the importance of relative deprivation explanation. According to the theory of relative deprivation, the effects of four different kinds of relative deprivation along the “individual-group” and “vertical-horizontal” dimensions on perception of outcome justice and opportunity justice are discussed. Generally, the stronger the relative deprivation people feel, the more injustice they perceive in outcome and opportunity distributions. It is the perceived individual relative deprivation, but not group relative deprivation, that has the decisive influence. Horizontal individual relative deprivation is the only significant variable that affects the perceived outcome justice; whereas opportunity justice is associated with both horizontal and vertical individual relative deprivation.

Key words: perception of distributive justice, outcome justice, opportunity justice, social structure, relative deprivation