An Exploratory Study on the Relationship Between Justice and Social Conflict and the Mediating Role of Trust and Communication

This study aimed to analyze the effect of Korean people’s awareness of justice on the level of social conflict and the roles of trust and communication as mediating factors. Using the survey data obtained from 8000 Korean people in 2016, the study’s main findings are the following. First, the average values of justice and social conflict reveal that the respondents thought that Korean society is not fair and that social conflict is a serious issue. Second, the awareness of justice had a positive effect on the factors of trust and communication. This indicates that people who perceived society as fair were also more likely to perceive higher levels of trust and communication. Third, justice was the most influential factor on the level of social conflict, followed by trust in social institutions. Fourth, people’s age, education, and income levels also showed differences in the level of perception of social conflict. Finally, trust in social institutions was a mediating factor in the relationship between justice and social conflict and thus reduced the seriousness of social conflict.