In our recent research, we looked at a statement that encapsulates the belief in individual self-reliance and personal responsibility: “Citizens should take care of their own social situation.” Our goal was to unravel its relationship to system justification, a fascinating concept in social psychology. The results offer intriguing insights into how those prioritizing individual responsibility perceive the existing social system.
The data paints a thought-provoking picture. Among respondents who “definitely agree” with the statement, the average System Justification Score (SJS) is remarkably high at 18.89. For those who “agree,” the SJS remains relatively high at 18.70. These results suggest a positive correlation between valuing self-reliance and having a solid tendency to justify and maintain the current social order.
However, when we move to those who “disagree” or “strongly disagree” with the statement, we see a gradual decline in SJS scores. For those who “disagree,” the SJS score drops to 17.74, and for those who “definitely disagree,” it drops further to 15.48. These declining scores indicate a weakening link between the rejection of the idea of self-reliance and the tendency to justify existing social structures.
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