distributive justice Socially just allocation of goods and resources. Research in this field tries to determine what would be a ‘fair’ way of distributing limited resources. For instance, it is manifestly unfair that rich countries like the US use vastly more of the earth’s resources than very poor countries like Guatemala, but it would be equally unfair to scale back the US’s allocation in line with Guatemala’s usage since this would result in a cataclysmic drop in standard of living. Given these uneven conditions, what is the best path forward so that a socially just allocation of resources can be achieved? This is the central question asked by distributive justice. See also art worlds. Further Reading: S. Fleischacker A Short History of Distributive Justice (2005).