Justice beyond the individual: A future with legitimation

In the past, social psychologists focused on issues pertaining to variation in perceptions of distributive and procedural justice and in reactions to perceived injustice of both types. That work, however, focused primarily on justice in terms of individual processes, thereby ignoring a core element of justice: its implications for a collectivity. Here we argue that inclusi on of legitimacy, which is fundamentally a collective process, augments our understanding of justice. We offer predictions regarding the effects of tw o sources of support-endorsement and authorization-on justice evaluations a nd on emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions to injustice. These pr edictions, as well as consideration of additional factors that may temper t he proposed relationships, provide an important direction for future resear ch.