SOCIAL-JUSTICE RESEARCH AND LEGITIMATION NORMS

The legitimation of a society relies, among other things, on whether members of the society accept the rules for distributing resources. In this paper, I attempt to demonstrate the role empirical social justice research has in studying distributive legitimation processes. A review of the major themes and theories of micro- and macrosociological justice research is given. Based on that review, I propose a classification of possible legitimation norms. The distribution of these norms depends on the distribution rules typical of a society and on the primary norms of justice based on these rules. However, the primary norms also evoke secondary legitimation norms supported by those who are disadvantaged by the reigning distribution rules. Thus, there exists an interaction between primary and secondary norms. This proposition is supported by comparing Germany and the United States empirically.