Ethos of Conflict: A System Justification Perspective

Abstract

For several decades, the work of Daniel Bar-Tal has illuminated the means by which belief systems are socially constructed and shared widely within societies. His work has offered pivotal insights regarding the ideologies that promote and sustain intense intergroup conflicts and the ways in which these belief systems become firmly rooted in citizens’ minds, shaping their perceptions of reality. In this chapter, we pay tribute to Bar-Tal’s work pertaining to the existence and evolution of an “ethos of conflict” and explore the factors that sustain this ethos as a kind of dominant ideology. Drawing on system justification theory, we highlight the ways in which basic social psychological motives for certainty, security, and social belongingness manifest themselves in the tendency to defend, bolster, and justify the societal status quo—thereby perpetuating an ethos of conflict under circumstances of entrenched conflict and existential threat. We discuss the ways in which system justification motivation contributes to an ethos of conflict that is self-perpetuating and consider the prospects for promoting peaceful forms of social change.