Injustice in Schools: Perception of Deprivation and Classroom Composition

This paper examines the process of reward allocation in schools and students' perception of injustice therein. Assuming that both reward distribution and the evaluation of its fairness occur within, and are affected by, the educational context (schools and classrooms), this investigation focuses on the effect of classroom composition on perceptions of deprivation – the gap between the actual reward and the one to which the individual judges himself or herself entitled. The possibility that class composition is a referential structure influencing both actual reward allocation and the determination of entitlement is discussed and investigated empirically in a sample of over 9,000 Israeli junior high students with regard to two academic rewards: grades and ability group placement. The findings suggest that class composition does serve as such a comparison referent and thus affects the perception of deprivation.