Emphasis on equal opportunity increases the pressure to rationalize one’s social rank.

Evidence

1.The greater the emphasis in a society upon the availability of “equal opportunity for all,” the greater the need for members of that society to develop an acceptable rationalization for their own social status. 2.The greater the strain on a person’s self-esteem implied by a relatively low status in an open society, the greater the necessity to explain this status as “natural” and “proper” in the social order. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2266

Categorization

• QUESTION: These propositions predict that meritocratic ideologies will intensify status rationalization — worth checking against more recent system-justification and self-serving attribution research.
• XREF: connects to: Believing in equal opportunity lets advantaged groups justify status inequality and avoid collective guilt. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 202