ABSTRACT
According to the palliative function of ideology hypothesis proposed by System Justification Theory, endorsing system-justifying beliefs is positively related to general psychological well-being, because this fulfils existential, epistemic, and relational needs. We discuss and address three main issues: (1) the role of societal inequality, (2) comparisons by social status, and (3) cross-sectional versus longitudinal research. We used a longitudinal survey of representative online samples (N = 5,901) from 18 countries. The results supported the main argument proposed by the theory, in that system justification was positively and significantly related to life satisfaction and negatively related to anxiety and depression. The pattern of results suggested that the palliative function of system justification is more homogeneously distributed across individual and collective measures of social status than proposed by the theory, because the function was unaffected either by society-level inequality or by individual-level social status. These results allow us to infer that one of the reasons for the high stability of social arrangements is located in the psychological domain of palliative effects.
Subject(s)
Personal Satisfaction , Politics , Socioeconomic Factors , Adult , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Se analiza la relación entre el conservadurismo político y la justificación de cuatro formas de inequidad: económica, legal, educativa y étnica, en una muestra de estudiantes y graduados universitarios de la ciudad de Lima. Se evaluaron la intolerancia a la ambigüedad, el autoritarismo de ala derecha (RWA), la orientación hacia la dominancia social (SDO) y la orientación política de derecha. Un diagrama de sendero muestra que la intolerancia a la ambigüedad influye directamente sobre el RWA y la SDO, y estos a su vez lo hacen sobre los cuatro tipos de justificación de la inequidad. La SDO ejerce una influencia de mayor intensidad en comparación con el RWA.
The article analyzes the relationship between political conservatism and the justification of economic, legal, educational, and ethnic inequality in a sample of students and university graduates from the city of Lima. The following aspects were evaluated: intolerance toward ambiguity, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and rightist political orientation. A Path-analysis shows that intolerance toward ambiguity directly influences RWA and SDO, and that these variables, in turn, influence the four types of justification of inequality. SDO exerts a greater influence than RWA.
Analisa-se a relação entre o conservadorismo político e a justificativa de quatro formas de inequidade: econômica, legal, educativa e étnica, em uma amostra de estudantes e universitários formados da cidade de Lima. Avaliaram-se a intolerância à ambiguidade, o autoritarismo de direita (RWA), a orientação à dominância social (SDO) e a orientação política de direita. Um diagrama de trilha mostra que a intolerância à ambiguidade influencia diretamente sobre o RWA e a SDO, e estes, por sua vez, fazem isso sobre os quatro tipos de justificativa da inequidade. A SDO exerce uma influência de maior intensidade em comparação com o RWA.