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Project Title:German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) 2021 (English Version)
  2. General Information: *Note: The item was tested in German. This is an English translation of the original German wording.
  3. Question Text: When you think about the condition of society in Germany - how fair or unfair is it, all in all?
    [Wenn Sie einmal an den Zustand der Gesellschaft in Deutschland denken – wie gerecht oder ungerecht geht es da alles in allem zu?]
  5. Answer Categories very fair [sehr gerecht]

    fair [gerecht]

    neither fair nor unfair [teils/teils]

    unfair [ungerecht]

    very unfair [sehr ungerecht]

    1. Recommendations: Question: No changes recommended.

      Response format: We recommend that in self-administered modes the arrangement of the answer options be horizontal instead of vertical.
  2. Cognitive Techniques:Information image/link to cognitive pretesting General Probing, Category Selection Probing
  3. Findings for Question: 1. What did the respondents think of when answering this question?
    The persons understood that they were supposed to make a global judgment about justice in Germany. They often included several aspects in their answer, sometimes comparing Germany with other countries in their judgment, but especially weighing different groups and aspects of social justice within Germany:
    • "Compared to other countries, things are perhaps fair in Germany. If I don't look at other countries, then there are still very many areas here where things are still very unfair. Then I would pull these answers together and come out with 'neither fair nor unfair'." (TP 04)
    • "I took the economy and the law as standards for just and unjust." (TP 09)
    Four persons mentioned the gap between rich and poor and income differences between occupational groups:
    • "Well, first of all [I think] of my professional field, of educators. There are sometimes very big differences, in terms of salary, and all the social professions." (TP 01)
    • „"There [is] in very many areas in Germany the basic problem that there is a very large gap be-tween rich and poor, which, in my opinion, is widening." (TP 03)
    Two respondents (TP 04, 08) mentioned the tax system including tax progression and two others (TP 02, 07) mentioned the effects of the partial lockdown in fall 2020 on various industries:

    "I was thinking about the current state, that the second lockdown is coming, where, for exam-ple, restaurants have to close again. [...] Many depend on their profit from the restaurant or the café. If that all closes again now and the schools, [which] are attended by a lot of people, continue to stay open, I think that's very unfair." (TP 02)

    A total of four persons referred to social justice and equal opportunities between social groups. Of these, Test Person 01 and 05 referred to integration and opportunities for refugees, Test Person 10 referred to discrimination against women, and Test Person 06 mentioned several areas: "Rich and poor, young and old, East and West." Finally, two test persons mentioned the legal system in Germany:
    • "I think we have a legal system that works quite well." (TP 05, response: fair)
    • "[I think about] who is punished and how, for example." (TP 09, response: unfair)
    One respondent (TP 09) noted that she would "make the arrangement of the answers not from top to bottom, but from right to left."
  2. Question Topic: Society & social affairs/ Social justice
  3. Construct: Macrojustice