Psychology & Developing Societies current issue

Justice and Diversity: The Twin Concerns for Developing Societies

Singh, P. — 2009-07-28

Enduring Local Justice in India: An Anomaly or Response to Diversity?

Mathew, L., Pellissery, S. — 2009-07-28

How do collective societies deal with the issue of justice? Addressing this central question, we argue that collective societies emphasise understanding rather than rational agreement. As a result, different notions of justice embedded with socio-local identities are acceptable in a given society. Therefore, to grapple with the question of the relationship between diversity and justice, it is important to unearth the extra-rational elements in the exercise of justice. Rationally oriented notion of justice has been anthropocentric and it has focused on attaining common good. On the other hand, justice system that aims at rhythmic existence with living and non-living organisms de-emphasises consensus on justice itself.

Social Values, Trust and Fairness: Gauging Neglected "Psychocultural" Factors in Jamaican Development

Powell, L. A. — 2009-07-28

This article summarises recent trends in national research on Jamaican societal values, patterns of interpersonal trust and intergroup fairness perceptions, using data from 2006 and 2007 Leadership and Governance surveys and the 2002 Cross-cultural Variations in Distributive Justice Perception survey. Several examples are given of ways in which the "psychocultural factors gap" in understanding and implementing development policies can be bridged by empirically measuring, in ongoing nationally representative survey instruments, some of the salient national values, perceptions and behavioural "habits of the heart" that have implications for Jamaican development and long-term policy design. This is illustrated using recent national surveys that incorporated measures gauging levels of trust, fairness and social value priorities.

Protestant Work Ethic Endorsement and Social Justice Values in Developing and Developed Societies: Comparing Jamaica and New Zealand

Frey, R. A., Powell, L. A. — 2009-07-28

Taking Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism thesis as the point of departure, this paper compares work ethic endorsement patterns and social justice correlates in a developing society, Jamaica, and a developed society, New Zealand. A condensed version of Mirels and Garrett's Protestant work ethic scale and related demographic and social values-related measures were administered at Jamaican and New Zealand universities. High and low Protestant ethic (PE) clusters were isolated, within each culture, among comparable samples of undergraduate social science students, and multiple analysis of variance applied to test effects of culture, Protestant religious affiliation and related "social justice values" variables (welfare state support, redistribution, intergenerational equity, free enterprise, social distance from the disadvantaged, social Darwinism). Results suggest there are significant cultural differences between high and low PE scorers on key justice-related societal values often seen as being associated with the Protestant work ethic. Possible reasons for the differences are advanced in light of Jamaican and New Zealand social and political conditions.

Reward and Punishment Allocation in the Indian Culture

Krishnan, L., Varma, P., Pandey, V. — 2009-07-28

Two scenario studies examined justice perceptions in Indian samples. Study 1 investigated the effect of allocator-recipient relationship and internal/external locus of merit and need on both reward and punishment allocation in a distributive context, involving a meritorious and a needy recipient. Between merit, need and equality, subjects showed a clear equality orientation, in both allocation rule preference and perceived fairness of a given allocation. This finding was inconsistent with the strong need orientation reported in several Indian studies. In order to obtain more information on punishment alone, Study 2 was conducted in order to investigate a non-distributive context, involving internal/external locus of merit and need, and choice of punishment and perceived fairness of a given set of punishments, seriousness of the offence, guilt of the offender and the importance of need and merit. In both studies, the effect of situational variables did not emerge as expected. The apparent absence of effects of the situational variables was interpreted as the expression of a cognitive strategy to combine all the contextual information. The equality orientation found in Study 1 was interpreted as the resultant of such a combination. One part of this combination was in terms of the merit and need rules. It was suggested that subjects thought in terms of merit and need, instead of merit or need. Some evidence for this suggestion was obtained in Study 2. Need and merit were rated as being similar in importance when deciding a fair punishment. Attention was drawn to several aspects of justice perception, especially those related to punishment that requires further detailed investigation with modified methods.

Do Young Carers Deserve Justice? Young Caring in the Context of Illness

Sahoo, R., Suar, D. — 2009-07-28

Though there is a lot of discussion on carers’ issue, young caring is still ignored and many facts remain unknown to us, which need to be revealed. Children or young people who provide continuous care for ill or disabled parents, siblings or any other family members are young carers. This raises several issues related to justice in the context of the young. Caring has its rewards and difficulties. This paper reviews the literature on informal caregiving for ill family members in order to explore caring concept in children's mind and how young caring varies with age, sex, types of illness and different family situations from the perspective of children and parents. Causes and consequences of young caring have been explored. Agenda for future research is suggested.

Book Reviews

2009-07-28