Why Men (and Women) Do and Don’t Rebel

John T Jost,Jim Sidanius,Christopher Bratt,Vagelis Chaikalis-Petritsis,Jojanneke Van Der Toorn,Dominic Abrams

doi:10.1177/0146167211422544

Abstract

Three studies examined the hypothesis that system justification is negatively associated with collective protest against ingroup disadvantage. Effects of uncertainty salience, ingroup identification, and disruptive versus nondisruptive protest were also investigated. In Study 1, college students who were exposed to an uncertainty salience manipulation and who scored higher on system justification were less likely to protest against the governmental bailout of Wall Street. In Study 2, May Day protesters in Greece who were primed with a system-justifying stereotype exhibited less group-based anger and willingness to protest. In Study 3, members of a British teachers union who were primed with a "system-rejecting" mind-set exhibited decreased system justification and increased willingness to protest. The effect of system justification on nondisruptive protest was mediated by group-based anger. Across very different contexts, measures, and methods, the results reveal that, even among political activists, system justification plays a significant role in undermining willingness to protest.

Highlights

System Justification and Protest 2 God would prefer to suffer the government to exist, no matter how evil, rather than allow the rabble to riot, no matter how justified they are in doing so
Summary of Hypotheses and Research Overview To sum up, we investigated the following novel hypotheses in three studies: (H1) System justification will be negatively associated with collective protest. (H2) Uncertainty salience will be negatively associated with collective protest. (H3) System justification will be negatively associated with group-‐‐based anger. (H4) The negative effect of system justification on collective protest will be mediated by group-‐‐based anger
[System justification theory] helps us understand why there is less anger and pressure to change regulatory oversight than might be expected by the economic disaster visited on millions of Americans by events not of their own doing

Summary

Introduction

System Justification and Protest 2 God would prefer to suffer the government to exist, no matter how evil, rather than allow the rabble to riot, no matter how justified they are in doing so. An Integrated Perspective on Collective Protest According to system justification theory, most individuals possess a (largely nonconscious) motivation to defend, bolster, and justify the status quo (e.g., Jost, Liviatan, van der Toorn, Ledgerwood, Mandisodza, & Nosek, 2010; Kay, Gaucher, Peach, Laurin, Friesen, Zanna, & Spencer, 2009) This motivation, which varies according to both situational and dispositional factors (Jost & Hunyady, 2005), is clearly at odds with support for protest and collective action aimed at changing the extant social system, especially for members of disadvantaged groups who might otherwise push to improve the status of their own group (Jost, Burgess, & Mosso, 2001).

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