Further evidence that system justification amongst the disadvantaged is positively related to superordinate group identification

Owuamalam, Chuma K.; Caricati, Luca; Spears, Russell; Rubin, Mark; Marinucci, Marco; Ferrari, Alessia

Abstract

Members of disadvantaged groups sometimes support societal systems that enable the very inequalities that disadvantaged them. Is it possible to explain this puzzling system-justifying orientation in terms of rational group-interested motives, without recourse to a separate system motive? The social identity model of system attitudes (SIMSA) claims that it is. SIMSA proposes that the system justification shown by a disadvantaged group (e.g., African American women) can sometimes support identity needs that are tied to a more inclusive (superordinate) in-group (e.g., Americans). There is already some supportive evidence for this proposition, but it is not yet clear whether: (1) such trends are visible in a wider range of disadvantaged contexts, and (2) this explanation also applies to those who are strongly invested in their subgroup (e.g., feminists). In two waves of a large nationally representative survey from 21 to 23 European states (Ntotal = 84,572) and two controlled experiments (Ntotal = 290 women), we found that: (a) system justification was positively associated with superordinate ingroup identification across multiple cases of disadvantage (Studies 1–3), (b) system justification increased when this inclusive identity was made more salient (Studies 2 & 3), and (c) system justification was visible even amongst feminists when they activated their superordinate (Italian) identity (Study 3).

Citation

Owuamalam, C. K., Caricati, L., Spears, R., Rubin, M., Marinucci, M., & Ferrari, A. (2023). Further evidence that system justification amongst the disadvantaged is positively related to superordinate group identification. Acta Psychologica, 232, Article 103813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103813

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 14, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 27, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2023
• Journal: Acta Psychologica
• Print ISSN: 0001-6918
• Electronic ISSN: 0001-6918
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 232
• Article Number: 103813
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103813
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1183006