Generation Matters: The Role of Migration and Generational Status for Distributive Justice Attitudes

Abstract People hold different preferences concerning the justice principles—such as merit, equality, and need—that should guide the distribution of resources. Additionally, they judge the existing distribution as just or unjust. Both sets of attitudes differ across social groups. So far, relatively little attention has been paid to migration experiences as a factor potentially underlying different attitudes toward distributive justice. Integrating the insight from migration scholarship that generation matters, this study explores migration background and migrants’ generational status as possible factors shaping distributive justice attitudes. Using an original survey in Germany, this study tests whether migrants of different generations hold attitudes different from those of non-migrants. Almost no differences were found with regard to individuals who moved to Germany as children or grew up in Germany with migrant parents. However, personal experiences of migration in adolescence or adulthood strongly shape distributive justice attitudes. Migrants who moved to Germany after or during adolescence tend to find inequality more acceptable and support the equality and need principles less. The paper highlights migrants as an interesting population for empirical justice research. Moreover, it urges justice scholars to differentiate between migrant generations.