A Sense of Powerlessness Fosters System Justification: Implications for the Legitimation of Authority, Hierarchy, and Government
A Sense of Powerlessness Fosters System Justification: Implications for the Legitimation of Authority, Hierarchy, and Government
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DOI：
10.1111/pops.12183
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发表时间：
2015-02-01
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Wilmuth, Caroline
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
van der Toorn, Jojanneke;Feinberg, Matthew;Wilmuth, Caroline
在试图解释等级制度的稳定性，我们专注于无能为力的角度，以及主观的依赖感如何导致他们灌输系统及其权威的合法性。在研究1中，我们在一个具有全国代表性的美国雇员样本中发现，对工作的经济依赖与上司的合法性呈正相关。在研究2中，我们观察到，普遍的无力感与经济体系的合法性呈正相关。在研究3和4中，启动实验参与者的无力感增加了他们的理由的社会制度，即使他们提出了系统挑战的种族，阶级和性别差异的解释。在研究5中，我们证明了无权力的经历增加了政府当局的合法性（相对于基线条件）。我们所确定的进程很可能使不平等永久化，因为无权者为使他们处于不利地位的等级结构辩护，而不是努力改变这种结构。
In an attempt to explain the stability of hierarchy, we focus on the perspective of the powerless and how a subjective sense of dependence leads them to imbue the system and its authorities with legitimacy. In Study 1, we found in a nationally representative sample of U.S. employees that financial dependence on one's job was positively associated with the perceived legitimacy of one's supervisor. In Study 2, we observed that a general sense of powerlessness was positively correlated with the perceived legitimacy of the economic system. In Studies 3 and 4, priming experimental participants with feelings of powerlessness increased their justification of the social system, even when they were presented with system-challenging explanations for race, class, and gender disparities. In Study 5, we demonstrated that the experience of powerlessness increased legitimation of governmental authorities (relative to baseline conditions). The processes we identify are likely to perpetuate inequality insofar as the powerless justify rather than strive to change the hierarchical structures that disadvantage them.