Distributive justice revisited in a comparative setting: the fairness of wages in OECD countries and modalities of society

This article is a theoretical and empirical analysis of distributive justice in modern society. It surveys pertinent economic and sociological theories of distributive justice and injustice to provide a necessary theoretical background. It proposes a distinct sociological approach to distributive justice and injustice. It formulates specific predictions about distributive justice and injustice in modern Western and related societies such as OECD countries and notably modalities of modern society. It provides cross-country data on the predictors of distributive justice and injustice for OECD countries and modalities of modern society. It presents findings for levels of distributive justice in these countries. It concludes that modern Western and similar countries, notably modalities of society, display wide differences in terms of distributive justice. The article intends to contribute to a better theoretical understanding and empirical estimation of distributive justice and injustice in contemporary societies. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.