A Research Based On The Low Socioeconomic Status:the Influence Of Social Justice And Distributional Preferences On Intergroup Threat

An intergroup threat is experienced when members of one group perceive that another group is in a position to cause them harm. We refer to a concern about physical harm or a loss of resources as realistic threat, and to a concern about the integrity or validity of the in-group’s meaning system as symbolic threat. Realistic threats are threats to a group’s power, resources, and general welfare (Nelson,2009). Symbolic threats are threats to a group’s religion, values, belief system, ideology, philosophy, morality, or worldview (Mackie,&Smith,2002).Low power groups are highly susceptible to perceiving threats because they are at the mercy of more powerful groups (Nelson,2009). The group of low socioeconomic status are more likely to experience unjust than the group of high socioeconomic status, and this unjust treatment were focused on political power (Crocker, Luhtanen, Broadnax, et al.,1999). However, It would be expected value differences to be useful to predict the symbolic threat. For example, groups are especially likely to perceive one another as threatening when they believe their cultural values and characteristics differ from those of outgroup (Zarate, Garcia, Garza,&Hitlan,2004).Therefore, in fact, realistic threats are more closely related to the groups’abilities to harm one another or control valued resources (Nelson,2009). Therefore, we can infer that social justice have a significant influence on intergroup threat, especially for realistic threat. In addition, it is also likely that cultural value differences predict perception of symbolic threat. In the present research, we suspect that the value of preference for the merit principle may be played an important role on the perception of realistic threat that the low socioeconomic status perceived from the high socioeconomic status.According to the previous studies, under socially just circumstances, people are inclined to have a grateful attitude toward society, however, they readily show negative emotional reactions (e.g., angry, fear, anxiety) when they believe that social injustice prevails in society (Lind&Tyler,1988; Tyler&Lind,1992). Therefore, we can refer that social justice can have an influence on the reaction of individual’s emotion and behavior, especially for the individuals with a high preference for the merit principle. Meritocracy is considered as an ideal justice principle because it considers only relevant inputs (e.g., abilities) and it ignores irrelevant factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender) when distributing outcomes (Son Hing et al.,2011). In the previous research has found that chimpanzees refused to complete a social exchange when their partner received a superior reward for the same amount of effort (Brosnan, Schiff,&Waal,2005).In the real China, in the light of the resources they share increased different significantly among social classes, and social equity and justice has been the concern of social psychologists and political scientists. There will have a tension relationship among the different social classes when the social wealth and resources are distributed extremely unreasonable. Therefore, in the present research, in order to study the social environment has a significant influence on the group of low socioeconomic status who perceive the threat from the group of high socioeconomic status. And social environment also play an important role for the individual’s of preference for the merit principle.In the study1, we explore that the social justice has a significant influence on the group of low socioeconomic status who perceive the realistic threat from the group of high socioeconomic status. A total of72subjects were selected for this research (including36participants who identified themselves as having a HPMP and36participants who identified themselves as having a LPMP). They were randomly assigned to either a social justice condition or a social injustice condition. The findings were (1) with participants in the unjust condition feeling more realistic threat than those in the just condition;(2) the individuals with HPMP perceive more realistic threat than the individuals with LPMP.In the study2, we explore that the social justice has a significant influence on the group of low socioeconomic status who perceive the symbolic threat from the group of high socioeconomic status, especially for the individuals with the high preference for the merit principle. The participants and the experimental manipulation were as study1. The results showed that (1) there was no significant difference about the symbolic threat between the just and unjust conditions;(2) the individuals with HPMP perceive more symbolic threat than the individuals with LPMP.In this article, we try to explore a useful method for alleviating tension relationship among the different social classes. According to the above results, we can infer that social justice can successfully ease the feeling of threat for the group of low socioeconomic status, especially for the individuals with HPMP. These findings provide an important empirical evidence for political stability and social harmony among the different groups.