A Study Based on the Chinese Distribution System: Social Justice, Merit Principle Preference and Stress in Low-socioeconomic-Status Groups

Abstract

The current study investigates whether social justice has a positive effect on individuals of low socioeconomic status who have a high preference for the merit principle. We used the Merit Principle Scale and the Social Class Scale to assign the study’s low-socioeconomic-status participants into two groups: those with a high preference for the merit principle (HPMP), and those with a low preference for the merit principle (LPMP). A total of 72 undergraduates of low socioeconomic status at Southwest University participated in this research. They included two samples: participants who identified themselves as having HPMP (11 men, 25 women) and those with LPMP (14 men, 22 women). The participants were randomly assigned to either a social-justice condition or a social-injustice condition. In the social-justice condition, participants read an article describing society as fair; in the social-injustice condition, they read an article emphasising that society is unfair. The results showed that social justice can reduce participants’ stress, and that individuals with HPMP felt more stress than individuals with LPMP in the socially-unjust condition. In addition, a significant correlation was found between a person’s value of preference for the merit principle and the government’s just-distribution policy. Individuals will perceive less stress when their values concerning distribution principles are consistent with the distribution system that society is implementing. In contrast, individuals will have more stress when their value of preference for merit is not consistent with the government’s distribution system. Social justice can successfully buffer the stress experienced among those of low socioeconomic status, especially in individuals who have a high degree of preference for the merit principle. Individuals will perceive less stress when their personal values are consistent with government policy than when they are not.