Stereotypes justify the status quo, not merely love or hate toward groups

Evidence

Stereotypes are used – implicitly and explicitly – to justify much more than “love-prejudice” and “hate-prejudice.” They imbue existing forms of social arrangements with meaning and legitimacy; they preserve and bolster the status quo. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1415 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The second reading in this section summarizes one of the more recent approaches to the political psychology of stereotyping and intergroup relations. This approach is called system justification theory and was introduced by John Jost and Mahzarin Banaji in 1994. Briefly, Jost and Banaji argue that group stereotypes serve an ideological system justification function in addition to two other cognitive-motivational functions long recognized by psychologists, namely ego justification (the tendency to defend and justify one’s own actions, interests, and self-esteem) and group justification (the tendency to defend and justify the actions, interests, and esteem of fellow ingroup members). By recognizing that people seek to defend and justify the status quo-even when it seems to conflict with personal and group interests, system justification theory helps to understand why many members of disadvantaged groups accept and even perpetuate stereotypes that provide moral and intellectual justification for the overarching social system and for their own state of disadvantage. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2623 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It was in chapter 12, entitled “Stereotypes in Our Culture,” that Allport famously proposed that the “rationalizing and justifying function of a stereotype exceeds its function as a reflector of group attributes” (1954/1979, p. 196). … Putting these two points together, we see that categorization is a necessary but not sufficient cause of prejudicial attitudes. The cultural context is crucial, for stereotypes operate in relation to societal and ideological systems. The overwhelming effect of both categorization and justification processes is that existing forms of inequality tend to be reinforced and perpetuated (e. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1366 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Stereotypes do not sour-grape away envied outgroup competence but justify their high status. — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 43; Positive stereotypes can justify a disadvantaged group’s low status; Stereotypes function primarily to rationalize prejudiced behavior. (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Stereotypes justify existing social arrangements and preserve the status quo #corroborates (1.00) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1415
• Stereotypes serve an ideological function of justifying the status quo. #corroborates (1.00) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2623
• Stereotypes function as justification for inequality more than as accurate reflection of groups #corroborates (0.95) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1366
• People stereotype themselves and their own groups to justify existing social arrangements #corroborates (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2960
• Specific stereotype combinations elicit distinct prejudiced emotions toward out-groups. #complicates (0.80) — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 15