A self-presentational framework for understanding how people define a just exchange and why behaving justly is important to them is proposed. A case is posited for two self-presentational principles of justice -- that one is responsive to the perceived beliefs of significant others in determining what is just; and that one usually comes to believe that his view is the fair one. These tenets should be equally applicable to a self-presentational analysis of any significant ego-involving social behavior. Current research which is compatible with this view is discussed. The dramaturgical approach to impression management presented stresses a contract among interactants to maintain particular definitions of situations and role relationships to give meaning and order to social interaction. Thus, self-presentation becomes a dynamic conception of people structuring their relations a propos to their life-space, rather than a theory of how to win friends and influence people. (Author/JLL)