System Justification Beliefs, Affirmative Action, and Resistance to Equal Opportunity Organizations

Abstract

The present research examined whether system justification results in resistance to companies that promote diversity and equal opportunity by means of affirmative action policies. Results supported hypothesized links among system justification beliefs, attitudes toward affirmative action, and implicit attitudes toward equal opportunity organizations (i.e., companies that recruited employees using affirmative action advertisements). To the extent that participants endorsed the status quo, they implicitly preferred merit-based companies to equal opportunity companies. Furthermore, system justification beliefs predicted attitudes toward affirmative action policies, and these attitudes mediated the relationship between system justification beliefs and both implicit and explicit company attitudes. The implications of these findings for the influence of system-justifying ideologies on support for policies designed to offset systemic, institutionalized discrimination are discussed.