COMPARISON OF DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE REASONING BETWEEN LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS CHILDREN

In this dissertation three studies were implemented to investigate the differences in distributive justice development between lower and middle class children. In Study 1, conducted on all white children in a rural Florida school, twenty-eight middle and twenty-eight lower class children from kindergarten and third grades were given the Distributive Justice Scale (DJS) and the vocabulary section of the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The results of this study showed that regardless of grade level, the lower class lagged behind the middle class in distributive justice development. There were not significant differences found between the social classes in verbal ability. Since Study 1 was the first study to investigate this topic, it was thought necessary to replicate the findings in a different part of the country on a different population. Study 2 was conducted on all black children from an inner-city Midwestern school. Thirty-two middle and thirty-two lower class children from kindergarten and third grade were given the above measures. A new dimension was added to Study 2 in that a sociometric peer-rating scale was given to investigate the interactional pattern between the social classes. The distributive justice and verbal ability results replicated Study 1. The peer ratings showed that the lower class kindergarten children segregate themselves, while third grade children do not. The findings also showed that in both grade levels, the lower class children were chosen significantly more often for negative social characteristics. Study 3 was conducted in the same school as Study 1, the following school year, on different children. Study 3 was concerned with replicating the distributive justice results in a time-sequential research design. This study was also concerned with replicating the sociometric results of Study 2 in a different part of the country on a different population. In Study 3, twenty-eight middle and twenty-eight lower class children from kindergarten and third grade were administered the three previously mentioned instruments. The distributive justice and vocabulary results replicated Studies 1 and 2. The sociometric results showed that middle class and lower class children chose in the same way. Lower class children were consistently chosen for negative social characteristics, while middle class children were chosen for the positive social characteristics. A social reality and social dominance hypothesis are presented and discussed to explain this phenomenon. Implications for future research are presented and discussed.