Justice Beliefs in German Parliamentarians and Citizens

A survey by the IfD Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research yielded that 60% of German deputies to different parliaments (members of the German National Parliament, the State Parliaments and the European Parliament) consider the social conditions in Germany to be just, while 28% of the population do so. Also, 56% of the population, but 28% of deputies, consider their country unjust. Based on the Justice Motive Theory and research, the current study aimed to explore whether German politicians and the voting public differ in their just-world beliefs and perceptions of justice. These beliefs and perceptions of 116 members of the 18th German National Parliament and 998 citizens (a representative sample of the German population) were analysed by latent structural equation modelling, including randomly drawn subsamples of 116 citizens each. The politicians indicated significantly lower beliefs in a just world, an unjust world, immanent justice, ultimate justice, perceived performance and equality distributive-justice principles than the citizens. However, the citizens indicated a significantly lower belief in justice according to an individual's needs than the participating members of the German national parliament. The findings offer insights into how distributive justice principles are perceived across societal roles.