Justice Perceptions and Demographics of Privilege Among Brazilian Adolescents

Abstract

Drawing from just world theory and system justification theory, this study explores how privileged status influences perceptions of justice. Data from 475 Brazilian adolescents across three schools shed light on how adolescents’ social demographics (ethnicity, education, and income) influence their perceptions of fairness. Adolescents from higher income or educational privilege backgrounds had higher personal belief in a just world (BJW), and better perceptions of legal authorities, but lower general BJW. The opposite was true for less privileged adolescents, indicating that those from lower income homes are less likely to differentiate between personal and general BJW. Contrary to the hypothesis, ethnicity was not a significant variable, but the results were in the expected direction. This research is discussed under the framework of system justification theory and just world theory and provides insight into how the theories complement each other in socially unequal contexts.