Authoritarian political systems can shape minds that preserve the status quo

Evidence

While Greenwald (1980) sees only an analogy between the practices of conservative systems of government and the cognitive tendency to avoid change, we suggest a more direct link: political systems that seek to preserve the status quo at all costs may produce people whose minds work to preserve the status quo at all costs. We assume that biases such as “cognitive conservatism” (e.g., Greenwald, 1980; Janoff-Bulman, 1992) acquire the particular effects they do because they operate in the context of unequal social systems requiring substantial ideological justification, as suggested by critical aspects of feminist and Marxist philosophies. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2932

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that social structure causally shapes basic cognitive biases — not just that they coexist — is a strong, paradigm-shifting anti-individualist move worth sitting with.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2932
• XREF: connects to: Political apathy can be sanctioned as the system’s healthy basis — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2341; Authoritarian society collapse widens psychic-structure differences between classes — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 551; Authoritarian-era institutional choices can shape political behavior after democratic openings. — Johan Brosché and Hanne Fjelde and Kristine Höglund, Electoral violence and the legacy of…, 13 (+2 more)