Stereotypes serve an ideological function of justifying the status quo.

Evidence

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

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces system justification theory and its distinction from ego and group justification.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in ideology and legitimizing myths — related to earlier material on communication technology shaping culture and social control of trust. — 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; Mixed warmth-and-competence stereotypes ideologically justify existing social hierarchies. — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 51