Justice and Self-Interest
Two Fundamental Motives

This volume argues that the commitment to justice is a fundamental motive and that it sometimes takes priority over self-interest.

Melvin J. Lerner (Author), Susan Clayton (Author)

9781107002333, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 March 2011

280 pages, 4 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.3 x 14.6 x 2 cm, 0.43 kg

"...This study goes beyond previous attempts (such as Beyond Self-Interest, ed. by Jane Mansbridge, CH, Dec'90, 28-2396) describing human behavior as being guided by a complex interaction of self-interest and public interest. A solid resource in the areas.of social psychology, social justice, sociology, and political science.... Recommended..."
--M. Bonner, Hawai'i Pacific University, CHOICE

This volume argues that the commitment to justice is a fundamental motive and that, although it is typically portrayed as serving self-interest, it sometimes takes priority over self-interest. To make this case, the authors discuss the way justice emerges as a personal contract in children's development; review a wide range of research studying the influences of the justice motive on evaluative, emotional and behavioral responses; and detail common experiences that illustrate the impact of the justice motive. Through an extensive critique of the research on which some alternative models of justice are based, the authors present a model that describes the ways in which motives of justice and self-interest are integrated in people's lives. They close with a discussion of some positive and negative consequences of the commitment to justice.

1. Contesting the primacy of self-interest
2. Why does justice matter? The development of a personal contract
3. Commitment to justice: the initial primary automatic reaction
4. Explaining the myth of self-interest
5. Defining the justice motive: re-integrating procedural and distributive justice
6. How people assess deserving and justice: the role of social norms
7. Integrating justice and self-interest: a tentative model
8. Maintaining the commitment to justice in a complex world
9. Bringing it closer to home: justice in another 'American tragedy'
10. Emotional aftereffects: some negative consequences and thoughts on how to avoid them.

Subject Areas: Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Sociology [JHB], Social & political philosophy [HPS]