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System Justification: A Motivational Process with Implications for Social Conflict

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Justice and Conflicts

Abstract

According to system justification theory, people are motivated to defend and legitimize the social systems that affect them. In this chapter, we review 15 years of theory and empirical research demonstrating the motivational underpinnings of system justification processes. We begin by explaining why people are motivated to system justify (i.e., it serves social and psychological needs). We then describe five lines of evidence that corroborate the motivational postulate of system justification theory: (1) Individual differences in self-deception and ideological motivation are linked to system justification; (2) System threat elicits defensive responses on behalf of the system; (3) People engage in biased information-processing in favor of system-serving conclusions; (4) System justification processes exhibit properties of goal pursuit; and (5) The desire to legitimize the system inspires greater behavioral effort. We consider the implications of this motivational approach for understanding situations—including situations involving social conflict—that facilitate resistance to vs. support for social change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    John T. Jost & Anesu Mandisodza

  2. Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Ido Liviatan

  3. Department of Social Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Jojanneke van der Toorn

  4. Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Alison Ledgerwood

  5. Social and Cognitive Programs, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Brian A. Nosek

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  1. John T. Jost
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  2. Ido Liviatan
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  3. Jojanneke van der Toorn
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  4. Alison Ledgerwood
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  5. Anesu Mandisodza
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  6. Brian A. Nosek
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Correspondence to John T. Jost .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Professur Psychologie III, Katholische Universität, Ostenstrasse 25, Ingolstadt, 85072, Germany

    Elisabeth Kals

  2. Fakultät für Pädagogik, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39, Neubiberg, 85577, Germany

    Jürgen Maes

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Jost, J.T., Liviatan, I., van der Toorn, J., Ledgerwood, A., Mandisodza, A., Nosek, B.A. (2011). System Justification: A Motivational Process with Implications for Social Conflict. In: Kals, E., Maes, J. (eds) Justice and Conflicts. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19035-3_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19035-3_19

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