Social Psychology and Law

by Eugene Borgida

Published 14 October 1998
Focusing on the social psychology of justice, this work considers how justice is defined, how it influences individuals' thoughts and actions and shapes their behaviour, and when and why it matters. The underlying unifying theme is that individuals do care about issues of fairness in their interactions with others, with groups, and with institutions they support or oppose. The authors explore research on relative deprivation, distributive justice, procedural justice and retributive justice. Extensive use is made of examples drawn from contemporary culture, encompassing topics such as gender, equal pay, personal satisfaction, third-party-dispute management, crime, cultural preservation, and scarcity theory.