Equità, sentimenti di giustizia e disuguaglianze di reddito in Italia

This article examines a topic rarely investigated in Italy: perceived fairness about own earned income. Data were obtained from a phone survey of the Italian active population (N = 2502). Only a quarter of interviewees reported to be justly paid. I explored personal characteristics associated with this judgment and found that absolute income level was an important predictor of perceived fairness. However the income effect was strongly reduced by the outcomes of interpersonal comparisons (relative income). Interviewees who find themselves justly or unjustly paid did not differ substantially about the reasons for their fairness judgment. Prevalent reasons were an ordered set of merit, desert, and need in both groups. Finally I considered the relationship between perceived fairness and the individual’s attitude to income inequality in society (measured as the ratio of actual to legitimate perceived income inequality). I did not find strong correlation between these attitudes, although people who considered themselves unjustly paid believed that income inequalities should be reduced a bit more as compared to justly paid individuals.