A fair share: Effects of disparity, allocation strategy and system justification on perceptions of policy support in the education domain

Abstract

Utilizing experimental methods across a pilot and two studies, we explore and contrast the relationship between system-justifying attitudes and fairness perceptions of and support for redistributive policies based on theoretical accounts of distributive justice, highlighting three allocation strategies: equality, equity and need. We began our investigation with a test across multiple policy domains (e.g., health care, education, employment) to examine broad associations between system justification and policy support. Then, we chose one specific domain – education – to narrow our focus on and designed two experimental studies to test more complex models of the interaction between system justification and the type of distributive justice on support and fairness perceptions. Results indicate that as system-justifying attitudes increase, so does the level of support and perception of fairness of policies based on equality or equity. Conversely, there is no relationship between system justification and support or fairness when considering a need-based policy in the education domain.