Study looks at status quo

People who see the world as fair and equal have a diminished sense of obligation to society, according to a recent study by NYU researchers.

The study, released earlier this month by NYU's psychology department, aims to investigate what allows people to tolerate the vast inequalities around the world. It also questions how people rationalize these inequalities to themselves and others.

Among the inequalities examined in the study are worldwide class-level issues such as hunger and diseases caused by unsanitary conditions - issues that people feel are not their responsibility.

The results show that when people justify the status quo of society, their general mood is better, and they also exhibit less outrage at the inequality in the world. Because of this diminished sense of moral outrage, they are less likely to advocate policies that are aimed at helping the disadvantaged.

Professor John Jost, who headed up the study, said that this causes volunteer programs around the world to suffer.

"It has practical consequences for whether people are willing to sacrifice time or money to causes such as an after-school tutoring program for disadvantaged children, a soup kitchen, a job-training program, a crisis hotline, an adopt-a-grandparent program and a big brother/sister program," he said.

Researchers developed a "system justification theory" in an effort to better understand what social and psychological mechanisms people use that can explain how and why people come to see the status quo as fair, legitimate and desirable.

Jost said the most difficult part of conducting such an abstract study was "coming up with the right questions, the right ways of measuring the psychological constructs of interest."

"We're not measuring temperature or height or weight," he said. "We're measuring people's opinions, and how you ask the questions affects whether the responses you receive are genuine, illuminating and meaningful."

Although data for the study was collected from around the country, the data for this published article was obtained by explicitly studying the results from NYU students who voluntarily participated.

Initially funded primarily by the university, Jost and his team now have a grant from the National Science Foundation for further research on the system justification theory. The grant came after the study was accepted for publication.

"I have a fantastic group of Ph.D. students at NYU in my laboratory, including Cheryl Wakslak," Jost said, referring to the study's lead author. "Most of them are working on system justification theory and its various applications."

Jost extended his gratitude for the volunteers, and said this survey could spark similar studies.