ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on adolescents’ and adults’ conceptions of how societal resources are and should be distributed and on the perceived fairness of these distributions. Initial sections summarize two major findings from adult-based international studies. First, subjective conceptions of societal resources are often better predictors of individuals’ redistributive and other policy preferences than objective economic indicators. Second, these patterns apply to only one of the two major methodologies typically used to assess conceptions of societal resources. Subsequent sections highlight studies showing that similar findings begin to emerge in early adolescence. Across age groups, participants who judge that societal resources are distributed more unequally also view society as less fair and have less trust in government and other institutions. Additionally, both adolescents and adults judge that actual societal resource distributions are less egalitarian than would be ideal, although even preferred ideal distributions reflect some level of inequality. Final chapter sections address (1) how these societal-level conceptions may emerge from children’s interactions in peer-to-peer contexts involving group resources and (2) how the moral and nonmoral factors described in social domain theory can clarify the development of individuals’ thinking and behavior regarding distributive justice and fairness in peer, group, and larger societal systems.
