Abstrakt

Affirming the importance of justice as a basic human need.

Taylor AJW

It is a truism that justice is pre-eminently a matter of significance for everyone, no matter their current stage in the life-cycle, social circumstances or nationality. It assures personal and communal security, and is manifest in the way countries deals with crime, civil conflict and social strife within their borders or by agreement beyond.

Yet the topic is much neglected by academic and experimental psychologists, except when their professional and ethical obligations in teaching and research come into question. While the same might not be true for practising child, clinical, forensic, industrial, political and social psychologists, rarely do they address justice formally in either their practice or interprofessional discourse and the topic has yet to appear in formal course-work for their successors.

The aim of the present paper is to remedy the situation and give justice the prominence it deserves in psychological theory and practice.