Give two examples of how culture influences children's ideas about distributive justice.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Culture subtly influences children's ideas about distributive justice. Research with young children from rural and urban areas of China, Peru, Fiji, the United States, Brazil, and Tibet showed a similar pattern of development from self-interest to increasing fairness. Cultures varied in the magnitude of young children's self-interest. Children reared in small-scale urban and traditional societies thought to promote more collective values showed less self-interest and more fairness. When Filipino and American fifth graders were presented with hypothetical scenarios that required that they distribute resources both the Filipino and American children preferred equal division of the resources regardless of merit or need, but the children offered different explanations of their choices that are based in differences in Filipino and U.S. culture. U.S. children emphasized that the characters in the scenario preformed equally and therefore deserved equal amounts of the resources, reflecting U.S. culture's emphasis on individuality and merit. Filipino children, on the other hand, tended to be more concerned with the interpersonal and emotional consequences of an unequal distribution, in line with their culture's emphasis on the collective and the importance of interpersonal relationships.