Será que os brasileiros veem a forma em que as coisas estão como aquilo que realmente deve ser? Uma nova escala de justificativa do sistema

Abstract

System justification theory contends that people are motivated to consider the social, political, and economic arrangements as just, legitimate and necessary. The adequate assessment of individual differences regarding this motivation is a critical issue in this field, especially in a cultural context of profound social inequalities like Brazil. We addressed this issue by developing a new scale to measure system justification (SJS) in extreme social inequality contexts. In Study 1, we explored the content validity of the SJS through expert analysis. In Study 2 (N = 305), we conducted exploratory factor analysis and found a single-factor structure. In Study 3 (N = 307), we confirmed this factorial structure and verified the configural, metric, and scalar invariance by gender. In Study 4 (N = 204), we estimated the convergent-discriminating and incremental validity of the SJS by comparing it with correlated constructs. Finally, in Study 5 (N = 100), we experimentally manipulated a news story about a high (vs. low) threat to the Brazilian system, and observed the predictive validity of the SJS. In general, the results showed that the SJS is a valid and reliable measure. Furthermore, they suggest SJS is a useful tool to measure individual differences in justification of social inequalities in a context of deep social disparities.