Non-metropolitan areas and men also have a high awareness of unfairness... ‘Strong unfairness’ 0.31%p↑ every year

Non-metropolitan areas and men also have a high awareness of unfairness... ‘Strong unfairness’ 0.31%p↑ every year

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hong Jun-seok = The proportion of people who perceive Korean society as unfair was found to be relatively high among young people, low-income and low-educated groups, and residents of non-metropolitan areas.

It was analyzed that over the past 10 years, the perception of 'strong unfairness' has increased and the perception of 'moderate unfairness' has decreased, and the overall perception of fairness has worsened.

'What are Koreans' perspectives on fairness?' was published in the latest issue of Korea Public Administration Research on the 4th. According to the paper, this conclusion was reached as a result of analyzing the social integration survey conducted by the Korea Institute of Public Administration between 2013 and 2024.

When the level of fairness perception was divided into four levels: extreme, strong, moderate, and upper-middle, the largest proportion was 'moderate'. Moderate, including fair and unfair, was calculated to be 70.4%.

This was followed by ‘upper-middle’ (16.3%), ‘strong’ (9.6%), and ‘extreme’ (3.6%).

By year, 'strong unfairness' increased by 0.31 percentage points (p) each year, and 'moderate unfairness' decreased by 0.33 percentage points each year, showing polarization in perceptions of fairness.

In relation to this, the researchers analyzed that it is reasonable to say that perceptions of fairness have worsened rather than polarized. This is because the middle class, who think that society is fair to some extent but at the same time feel dissatisfied and skeptical, still accounts for the majority.

It was found that perceptions of fairness also differed depending on socioeconomic characteristics.

Young people, low-educated/low-income people, residents of non-metropolitan areas, and men had a relatively large proportion of respondents who perceived society as unfair, while relatively many respondents who perceived society as fair were among the elderly, high-educated/high-income people, residents of metropolitan areas, and women.

The researchers said that this shows that perceptions of fairness cannot be explained solely by personal values ​​or emotions of a specific generation, and that it varies depending on education level, employment status, resource distribution, and daily experience.

The researchers emphasized, “Perception of fairness is rooted in the persistent condition of socioeconomic status,” and “This implies that improvement in perception of fairness is difficult to achieve through short-term policy campaigns or discursive interventions alone.”