Role Expectation as the Principal Criterion in Justice Judgment Among Hong Kong Chinese Students

ABSTRACT

On the basis of a review of the dominant social philosophies and the legal system in traditional Chinese societies, I hypothesized that whether role expectations are met may be the dominant criterion of Chinese justice judgment. This contention was tested among Hong Kong Chinese students in two studies. In Study 1, I found that the traditional Chinese moral percept, “yi” (righteousness), and role expectation were the dominant criteria of justice judgment among college students. In Study 2, I found that, among high school students, violation of role expectation was used as a principal criterion in judgment concerning personal desert. The results of these two studies showed that, despite the rapid modernization process that has occurred in Hong Kong in the past decades, normative role expectation remains a dominant criterion of justice judgment among Hong Kong Chinese.