Culture and Fairness

The culture and fairness portion of my cultural psychology text book really seemed to catch my attention. When comparing the principle of need to the principles of equity and equality, many things rushed through my mind. The first though, was how I was brought up and am still living in a country and society which generally follows the principle of equity. Without even having to look into the definitions or meanings of these principles, I was aware that most often, if you work for something you will achieve it and if you put more effort into a certain task, lets say your job, you will learn more money than someone who does not put forth this same amount of effort. Although maybe sometimes it would be nice to universally follow the principle of need or the principle of equality (this one isn't as uncommon), I understand why Westernized countries prefer the method of earning their worth and having a capitalist society.
I am all for helping others, especially those in need, but I also appreciate that if I work hard I generally know I will make the money I deserve or get the grade I should have in school. I feel that Westernized countries are the primary followers of the principle of equity where we are a capitalist society and earn what it is we deserve. Something I will highlight though, is that the saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is not too far off. Although yes equity is the way things work in Westernized countries, there are always exceptions. For example, once an individual hits a certain point in their career or company, they may be making profit that is sky high even though they don't even work anymore.
Overall, I find it interesting to see how different cultures utilize different methods of distribution whether it be money, materials or jobs. Personally though, I truly believe in earning what you have (money, materialistic things, etc.) by working hard and putting in as much effort as it takes. That leads to having conflicted personal beliefs when it comes to helping those in need if it is financially under the circumstance that the reason they got to where they are is that they were lazy or chose not to work and put forth effort. It also leads to conflicting beliefs in complete equality for certain things as I don't believe that someone who works hard their entire life should have the same end result as someone who put in as little effort as possible throughout their entire life.