“I Have Nothing to Complain About!”: System Justification Tendencies Undermines Collective Action Through Adherence to Hierarchy-Legitimizing Ideologies / “No tengo de qué quejarme”: Las tendencias a la justificación del sistema debilitan la acción colectiva a través de la adherencia a ideologías que legitiman la jerarquía

Abstract

All societies are organized based on hierarchies, where some groups have more power than others. Although some may aspire for a hierarchy-free world, hierarchies are inevitable and strongly resistant to changes. People may feel motivated to see hierarchical social systems as fair, legitimate, and justified, and endorse system-justifying ideologies, such as social dominance orientation (SDO), contributing to the maintenance and perpetuation of intergroup inequality. Belief in the social system’s fairness and legitimacy should increase acceptance and support for the existing society-based social stratification and status hierarchies, weakening support for collective action towards social change. We tested this idea, with two studies, conducted on members of the general population ( N = 121) and on members of a disadvantaged group highly mobilized for social change towards intergroup equality ( N = 154). Results showed that system justification undermines collective action through SDO (full mediation). We discuss the implications of including ideological processes when predicting collective action.