Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Difficulties Awakening the Sense of Injustice and Overcoming Oppression: On the Soporific Effects of System Justification

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Conflict, Interdependence, and Justice

Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS,volume 11))

Abstract

Morton Deutsch (Social Justice Research, 19, 7–41, 2006) identifies “awakening a sense of injustice” as a necessary precursor of social change. Building on Deutsch’s theorizing, we propose that system justification, the motivation to defend and justify existing social, economic, and political institutions, and to derogate or dismiss alternatives to the status quo (Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, Political Psychology, 25, 881–920, 2004), operates as an obstacle to awakening the sense of injustice. In this chapter, we summarize recent research findings illustrating the soporific effects of system justification motivation, that is, the ways in which it inhibits the awakening of a sense of injustice. Furthermore, we observe that social change is most likely to be embraced when it is system-sanctioned and therefore imbued with the legitimacy of the overarching social system. Although disruptive social protest may sometimes be necessary, broad system-level changes may be more readily accomplished through interventions and appeals that do not directly challenge the status quo, but instead garner psychological support through their association with the current system.

The most potent weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

(Steven Biko, 1978 )

Injustice fares poorly in the spotlight.

(Morton Deutsch, 1985 )

This chapter is dedicated to one of our intellectual heroes, Morton Deutsch, who remains a strong role model for any social psychologist who is interested in the study and practice of social justice. For extremely useful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter, we thank Rachel Arnett, Aleksandra Cichocka, Erin Hennes, Anesu Mandisodza, Natasza Marrouch, Andrew Shipley, Caroline Wilmuth, and Jesse Wynhausen. Funding was provided in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and New York University.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ashburn-Nardo, L., Knowles, M. L., & Monteith, M. J. (2003). Black Americans’ implicit racial associations and their implications for intergroup judgment. Social Cognition, 21, 61–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biko, S. (1978). I write what I like. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boll, T., Ferring, D., & Filipp, S. (2005). Effects of parental differential treatment on relationship quality with siblings and parents: Justice evaluations as mediators. Social Justice Research, 18, 155–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calogero, R. M., & Jost, J. T. (2011). Self-subjugation among women: Exposure to sexist ideology, self-objectification, and the protective function of the need to avoid closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 211–228.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christopher, K. P., England, K., Phillips, R., & Smeeding, T. M. (2002). The gender gap in poverty in modern nations: Single motherhood, the market, and the state. Sociological Perspectives, 45, 219–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, F. (1976). A model of egoistical relative deprivation. Psychological Review, 83, 85–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta, N. (2004). Implicit ingroup favoritism, outgroup favoritism, and their behavioral manifestations. Social Justice Research, 17, 143–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (1974). Awakening the sense of injustice. In M. Ross & M. Lerner (Eds.), The quest for justice (pp. 19–42). Canada: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (1985). Distributive justice: A social-psychological perspective. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (1999). A personal perspective on the development of social psychology in the twentieth century. In A. Rodrigues & R. V. Levine (Eds.), Reflections on 100 years of experimental social psychology (pp. 1–34). New York: Basic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (2006). A framework for thinking about oppression and its change. Social Justice Research, 19, 7–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M., & Steil, J. M. (1988). Awakening the sense of injustice. Social Justice Research, 2, 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diekman, A. B., & Goodfriend, W. (2007). The good and bad of social change: Ambivalence toward activist groups. Social Justice Research, 20, 401–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubé, L., & Guimond, S. (1986). Relative deprivation and social protest. In J. M. Olson, C. P. Herman, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Relative deprivation and social comparison: The Ontario symposium (Vol. 4, pp. 201–216). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109, 573–598.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eidelman, S., Crandall, C. S., & Pattershall, J. (2009). The existence bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 765–775.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elias, N. (1994). The civilizing process (Revised edition). Oxford: Blackwell. (Original work published 1939).

    Google Scholar 

  • Feygina, I., Jost, J. T., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2010). System justification, the denial of global warming, and the possibility of “system-sanctioned change”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 326–338.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M. (1979). Options to injustice: Seeing other lights. Representative Research in Social Psychology, 10, 61–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L., Roberts, T-A., Noll, S. M., Quinn, D. M., and Twenge, J. M. (1998). That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 269–284.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freud, A. (1937). The ego and the mechanisms of defense. London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friesen, J. P., Gaucher, D., & Kay, A. C. (2010). Justifying more equitable social arrangements. Unpublished data, University of Waterloo, Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaucher, D., Chua, S., & Kay, A. C. (2008). Contentment with the status quo and activist behavior. Unpublished data, University of Waterloo, Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaucher, D., Peach, J. M., & Kay, A. C. (2010). Justifying system-sanctioned public policy. Unpublished data, University of Waterloo, Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guimond, S., & Dambrun, M. (2002). When prosperity breeds intergroup hostility: The effects of relative deprivation and relative gratification on prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 900–912.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurr, T. (1970). Why men rebel. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, J. (1999). Civilized oppression. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, P. J., & Saul, A. (2006). The development of system justification in the developing world. Social Justice Research, 19, 365–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, J. (1981). What’s fair? American beliefs about distributive justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isaacs S. L., & Schroeder, S. A. (2004) Class: The ignored determinant of the nation’s health. The New England Journal of Medicine, 371, 1137–1142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, C. (1966). Revolutionary change. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T. (1995). Negative illusions: Conceptual clarification and psychological evidence concerning false consciousness. Political Psychology, 16, 397–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T. (1997). An experimental replication of the depressed-entitlement effect among women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 387–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T. (2011). System justification theory as compliment, complement, and corrective to theories of social identification and social dominance. In D. Dunning (Ed.), Social motivation (pp. 223–263). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2004). A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25, 881–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Burgess, D., & Mosso, C. O. (2001). Conflicts of legitimation among self, group, and system: The integrative potential of system justification theory. In J. T. Jost, & B. Major (Eds.), The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (pp. 363–388). New York: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., & Hunyady, O. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of system-justifying ideologies. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 260–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., & Kay, A. C. (2005). Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: Consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 498–509.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., & Kay, A. C. (2010). Social justice: History, theory, and research. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1122–1165). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Kivetz, Y., Rubini, M., Guermandi, G., & Mosso, C. (2005). System-justifying functions of complementary regional and ethnic stereotypes: Cross-national evidence. Social Justice Research, 18, 305–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Ledgerwood, A., & Hardin, C. D. (2008). Shared reality, system justification, and the relational basis of ideological beliefs. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 171–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Liviatan, I., van der Toorn, J., Ledgerwood, A., Mandisodza, A. N., & Nosek, B. A. (2010). System justification: How do we know it’s motivated? In R. Bobocel et al. (Eds.), The psychology of justice and legitimacy: The Ontario symposium (Vol. 11, pp. 173–203). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Nosek, B. A., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Ideology: Its resurgence in social, personality, and political psychology. Perspectives on Psychology Science, 3, 126–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Pelham, B. W., Sheldon, O., & Sullivan, B. N. (2003). Social inequality and the reduction of ideological dissonance on behalf of the system: Evidence of enhanced system justification among the disadvantaged. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 13–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., Pietrzak, J., Liviaton, I., Mandisodza, A. N., & Napier, J. L. (2008). System justification as conscious and unconscious goal pursuit. In J. Y. Shah & W. L. Gardner (Eds.), Handbook of motivation science (pp. 591–605). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., & Thompson, E. P. (2000). Group-based dominance and opposition to equality as independent predictors of self-esteem, ethnocentrism, and social policy attitudes among African Americans and European Americans. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 209–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., & Van der Toorn, J. (2011). System justification theory. In P. A. M. van Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, C. R., Dyrenforth, P. S., & Hagiwara, N. (2006). Why are attributions to discrimination interpersonally costly? A test of system- and group-justifying motivations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 1523–1536.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, C. R., Eccleston, C. P., & Hagiwara, N. (2008). Post-Hurricane Katrina racialized explanations as a system threat: Implications for whites’ and blacks’ racial attitudes. Social Justice Research, 21, 192–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, C. R., & Miller, C. T. (2001). Stop complaining! The social costs of making attributions to discrimination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 254–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, C. R., & Miller, C. T. (2003). Derogating the victim: The interpersonal consequences of blaming events on discrimination. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 6, 227–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, C. R., & Pratt-Hyatt, J. S. (2009). Distributing prejudice unequally: Do Whites direct their prejudice toward strongly identified minorities? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 432–445.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kay, A. C., Gaucher, D., Peach, J. M., Laurin, K., Friesen, J., Zanna, M. P., & Spencer, S. J. (2009). Inequality, discrimination, and the power of the status quo: Direct evidence for a motivation to see the way things are as the way they should be. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 421–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kay, A. C., Jimenez, M. C., & Jost, J. T. (2002). Sour grapes, sweet lemons, and the anticipatory rationalization of the status quo. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1300–1312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kay, A. C., & Jost, J. T. (2003). Complementary justice: Effects of “poor but happy” and “poor but honest” stereotype exemplars on system justification and implicit activation of the justice motive. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 823–837.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kluegel, J. R., Mason, D. S., & Wegener, B. (1995). Social justice and political change: Public opinion in capitalist and post-communist states. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kluegel, J. R., & Smith, E. R. (1986). Beliefs about inequality: Americans’ views of what is and what ought to be. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996). Motivated closing of the mind: “seizing” and “freezing.” Psychological Review, 103, 263–283.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, R. E. (1962). Political ideology: Why the common man believes what he does. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leach, C. W., Snider, N., & Iyer, A. (2002). “Poisoning the consciences of the fortunate”: The experience of relative advantage and support for social equality. In I. Walker & H. J. Smith (Eds.), Relative deprivation: Specification, development, and integration (pp. 136–163). New York: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ledgerwood, A., Mandisodza, A., Jost, J. T., & Pohl, M. J. (2011). Working for the system: Motivated defense of meritocratic beliefs. Social Cognition, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1935). Psychosociological problems of a minority group. Character and Personality, 3, 175–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1951). Problems of research in social psychology. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers by Kurt Lewin (pp. 155–169). New York: Harper. (Original work published 1944).

    Google Scholar 

  • Liviatan, I., & Jost, J. T. (2010). A social-cognitive analysis of system justification goal striving. Unpublished Manuscript, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Major, B. (1994). From social inequality to personal entitlement: The role of social comparisons, legitimacy appraisals, and group membership. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 26, pp. 293–355). San Diego, CA: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Major, B., McFarlin, D. B., & Gagnon, D. (1984). Overworked and underpaid: On the nature of gender differences in personal entitlement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1399–1412.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Montada, L., & Schneider, A. (1989). Justice and emotional reactions to the disadvantaged. Social Justice Research, 3, 313–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moshinsky, A., & Bar-Hillel, M. (2010). Loss aversion and status quo label bias. Social Cognition, 28, 191–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, L. T., & Major, B. (2005). System-justifying beliefs and psychological well-being: The roles of group status and identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1718–1729.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, L. T., & Major, B. (2009). Group status and feelings of personal entitlement: The roles of social comparison and system-justifying beliefs. In J. T. Jost, A. C. Kay & H. Thorisdottir (Eds.) Social and psychological bases of ideology and system justification (pp. 427–443). New York: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelham, B. W., & Hetts, J. J. (2001). Underworked and overpaid: Elevated entitlement in men’s self-pay. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 93–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reicher, S. (2004). The context of social identity: Domination, resistance, and change. Political Psychology, 25, 921–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, M., & Hewstone, M. (2004). Social identity, system justification, and social dominance: Commentary on Reicher, Jost et al., and Sidanius et al. Political Psychology, 25, 823–844.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudman, L. A., & Fairchild, K. (2004). Reactions to counterstereotypic behavior: The role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 157–176.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudman, L. A., Feinberg, J., & Fairchild, K. (2002). Minority members’ implicit attitudes: Automatic ingroup bias as a function of group status. Social Cognition, 20, 294–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudman, L. A., & Glick, P. (1999). Feminized management and backlash toward agentic women: The hidden costs to women of a kinder, gentler image of middle managers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1004–1010.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudman, L. A., & Glick, P. (2001). Prescriptive gender stereotypes and backlash toward agentic women. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 743–762.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runciman, W. G. (1966). Relative deprivation and social justice: A study of attitudes to social inequality in twentieth-century England. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skocpol, T. (1994). Social revolutions in the modern world. New York: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stapel, D. A., & Noordewier, M. K. (2011). The mental roots of system justification: System threat, need for structure, and stereotyping. Social Cognition, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorisdottir, H., & Jost, J. T. (2011). Motivated closed-mindedness mediates the effect of threat on political conservatism. Political Psychology, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, T. R., & Smith, H. J. (1998). Social justice and social movements. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, vols. 1 and 2 (4th ed., pp. 595–629). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uhlmann, E., Dasgupta, N., Elgueta, A., Greenwald, A. G., & Swanson, J. (2002). Subgroup prejudice based on skin color among Hispanics in the United States and Latin America. Social Cognition, 20, 198–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Toorn, J., Tyler, T. R., & Jost, J. T. (2011). More than fair: Outcome dependence, system justification, and the perceived legitimacy of authority figures. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 127–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T., & Spears, R. (2008). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 504–535.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wakslak, C. J., Jost, J. T., Tyler, T. R., & Chen, E. S. (2007). Moral outrage mediates the dampening effect of system justification on support for redistributive social policies. Psychological Science, 18, 267–274.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, I., & Smith, H. J. (Eds.). (2002). Relative deprivation: Specification, development, and integration. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeung, A. & Kay, A.C. (2007). The “F” word: System justification and negative perceptions of feminists. Unpublished honors thesis, University of Waterloo, Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Danielle Gaucher

  2. New York University, New York, NY, USA

    John T. Jost

Authors
  1. Danielle Gaucher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John T. Jost
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John T. Jost .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University, International Center for Cooperation and, Teacher's College, West 120th Street 525, New York, 10027, USA

    Peter T. Coleman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gaucher, D., Jost, J.T. (2011). Difficulties Awakening the Sense of Injustice and Overcoming Oppression: On the Soporific Effects of System Justification. In: Coleman, P. (eds) Conflict, Interdependence, and Justice. Peace Psychology Book Series, vol 11. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9994-8_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation