Judgments on (in)justice in a mature neoliberal regime: Results of an empirical game-based research

Abstract

Sharp social inequalities in Latin America persist not only as a result of structural elements, but also because people justify and legitimate them in everyday life. Thus, to overcome inequalities it is necessary that individuals subjectively perceive them as unjust. This is an issue that is especially relevant in Chile, one of the first countries to experience neoliberalism in the 1970s. More than social inequalities as such, which are widely studied by Latin American sociology, this article analyzes social justice as a subjective judgment about inequalities. On the basis of the findings of an empirical game-based research project, the article examines the justice criteria used by ordinary people regarding differences between members of society. The authors argue that according to these subjective criteria, social justice refers to aspects that differ from neoliberal discourse about distributive justice based on equality of opportunity and that procedural justice is also key in ordinary discourses about social justice.