Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-45ctf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-28T14:00:50.292Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What kind of rationalization is system justification?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

Kristin Laurin Open the ORCID record for Kristin Laurin [Opens in a new window]  and
William M. Jettinghoff
Kristin Laurin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4Canada. klaurin@psych.ubc.cawill.jettinghoff@psych.ubc.cahttps://magiclab.psych.ubc.ca/group/lab-director/https://magiclab.psych.ubc.ca/person/will-jettinghoff/
William M. Jettinghoff
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4Canada. klaurin@psych.ubc.cawill.jettinghoff@psych.ubc.cahttps://magiclab.psych.ubc.ca/group/lab-director/https://magiclab.psych.ubc.ca/person/will-jettinghoff/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cushman uses rationalization to refer to people's explanations for their own actions. In system justification theory, scholars use the same term to refer to people's efforts to cast their current status quo in an exaggeratedly positive light. We try to reconcile these two meanings, positing that system justification could result from people trying to explain their own failure to take action to combat inequality. We highlight two novel and contested predictions emerging from this interpretation.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e39
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bahamondes, J., Sibley, C. G. & Osborne, D. (2019) “We look (and feel) better through system-justifying lenses”: System-justifying beliefs attenuate the well-being gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged by reducing perceptions of discrimination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 45(9):1391–1408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jost, J. T. & Banaji, M. R. (1994) The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology 33(1):1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R. & Nosek, B. A. (2004) A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology 25(6):881–919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, A. C., Jimenez, M. C. & Jost, J. T. (2002) Sour grapes, sweet lemons, and the anticipatory rationalization of the status quo. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28(9):1300–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurin, K. (2018) Inaugurating rationalization: Three field studies find increased rationalization when anticipated realities become current. Psychological Science 29(4):483–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laurin, K., Gaucher, D. & Kay, A. (2013a) Stability and the justification of social inequality. European Journal of Social Psychology 43(4):246–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurin, K., Kay, A. C. & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2012) Reactance versus rationalization: Divergent responses to policies that constrain freedom. Psychological Science 23(2):205–209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laurin, K., Kay, A. C., Proudfoot, D. & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2013b) Response to restrictive policies: Reconciling system justification and psychological reactance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 122(2):152–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suppes, A., Napier, J. L., van der Toorn, J. (2019) The palliative effects of system justification on the health and happiness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 45(3):372–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wike, R. & Castillo, A. (2018) Many around the world are disengaged from politics [Report]. Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/10/17/international-political-engagement/.Google Scholar