ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 is the third empirical chapter of the book and it focuses on the relation between cultural situation and wage distribution fairness. The chapter first introduces the theoretical foundations for the analysis: the grid-group paradigm from Douglas and identifies two justice ideologies as relevant for wage distribution fairness (individualism and egalitarianism). The chapter further discusses how justice ideologies can be conceptualized and stresses that their meaning varies across three post-socialist societies (Hungary, East Germany, and the Czech Republic). Chapter 6 then continues to investigate how the two justice ideologies, individualism and egalitarianism, influence wage distribution fairness. The key finding of the chapter is that cultural factors have a strong effect on wage distribution fairness compared to structural effects. More individualistic respondents are more likely to consider the wage distribution fair, while more egalitarian individuals will reject the wage distribution to a larger degree. The analysis also showed that the cultural effects can vary across a country, reflecting the prevalent dominant ideology of the society.
