Humans rationalize arbitrary customs post hoc rather than recognizing their contingency

Evidence

In such domains, it has been found that people will ascribe to themselves and others traits that are consonant with their social position, whether positive or negative, rather than question the order or legitimacy of the system that produced such an arrangement or outcome. These tendencies toward system-justification occur even when subjects know that the arrangements or outcomes were arrived at arbitrarily and result in negative consequences for them. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2913 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

What I wish to emphasize here is not just the arbitrariness of the Distinction (for it could have hypothetically been conceived, and yet remain nothing more than ink on paper) but the very forces themselves that made of an arbitrary mode of thought an exclusive norm and an inviolable decree. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 361 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The taboo becomes the rational organization of the labor process. It ordains the pattern of war and peace, seedtime and harvest, the preparation of food and the slaughtering of animals. Whereas the rules do not arise from rational reflection, rationality arises from the rules. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 135 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Forgotten origins make arbitrary conventions feel like nature’s order — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 131; Awareness of culture’s mechanisms destroys the ability to hold earnest taste. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 751; People rationalize outcomes even when they know the outcomes were arbitrary — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2913 (+4 more)

Related

• People rationalize outcomes even when they know the outcomes were arbitrary (similarity 0.89)
• Rationality emerges from taboo rules rather than rules arising from rational reflection (similarity 0.80)
• Arbitrary conceptual distinctions become inviolable norms through social forces, not inherent validity (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• People rationalize outcomes even when they know the outcomes were arbitrary #corroborates (0.90) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2913
• Rationality emerges from taboo rules rather than rules arising from rational reflection #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 135
• Arbitrary conceptual distinctions become inviolable norms through social forces, not inherent validity #corroborates (0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 361
• Societal requirements transform into self-justifying norms devoid of social origin #corroborates (0.75)