Justifying inequality: A cross-temporal investigation of u.s. income disparities and just-world beliefs from 1973 to 2006

Social Justice Research

Volumn 22, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 369-383

  Malahy, Lori W ^a   Rubinlicht, Michelle A ^b   Kaiser, Cheryl R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

^b BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Belief in a just world; Fairness; Income disparities; Inequality; Justice; Meaning; Meta analysis; Worldview

Indexed keywords

EID: 76149105143     PISSN: 08857466     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11211-009-0103-6     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Funder, D. C. (2007). Psychology as the science of self-reports and finger movements: Whatever happened to actual behavior? Perspectives in Psychological Science, 2, 396-408.
2. Birkeli, K. G. (1994). Psychological determinants of the perception and tolerance of sexual harassment. Unpublished doctoral dissertation data, Georgia State University.
3. Cialdini, R. B. (2009). We have to break up. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 5-6.
4. Clayton, S. (1996). Reactions to social categorization: Evaluating one argument against affirmative action. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 1472-1493.
5. Communication Survey by AFL-CIO, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, January, 1997. iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut. http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/ipoll.html. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
6. Corning, A. F. (2000). Assessing perceived social inequity: A relative deprivation framework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 935-951.
7. Couch, J. V. (1998). Another psychometric evaluation of the just world scale. Psychological Reports, 82, 1283-1286.
8. Cowan, G., & Curtis, S. R. (1994). Predictors of rape occurrence and victim blame in the Smith, William, Kennedy Case. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 12-20.
9. Crandall, C., & Martínez, R. (1996). Culture, ideology and anti-fat attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1165-1176.
10. Davidson, J. A. (1991). Belief in a just world and patterns of personal affiliation: An investigation of differences among successful university students of varying ethnicities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation data, University of Kansas.
11. Davis, J. A., Smith, T. W., & Marsden, P. V. (2005). General Social Surveys, 1972-2004 [data file] (National Opinion Research Center, Producer; Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, Distributor). Computer-assisted Survey Methods Program University of California Website: http://sda.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
12. DeNavas-Walt, C., Proctor, B. D. & Smith, J. (2007). Income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States: 2006. In U. S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-233. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
13. DePalma, M. T., Madey, S. F., Tillman, T. C., & Wheeler, J. (1999). Perceived patient responsibility and belief in a just world affect helping. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21, 131-137.
14. Edlund, J. E., Sagarin, B. J., & Johnson, B. S. (2007). Reciprocity and belief in a just world. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 589-596.
15. Furnham, A. (2003). Belief in a just world: Research progress over the past decade. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 795-817.
16. Furnham, A., & Gunter, B. (1984). Just world beliefs and attitudes towards the poor. British Journal of Social Psychology, 23, 265-269.
17. Furnham, A., & Procter, E. (1989). Belief in a just world: Review and critique of the individual difference literature. British Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 365-384.
18. Hafer, C. L. (2000). Do innocent victims threaten the belief in a just world?: Evidence from a modified Stroop task. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 165-173.
19. Hafer, C. L., & Bègue, L. (2005). Experimental research on just-world theory: Problems, developments, and future challenges. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 128-167.
20. Haupt, K. A., & Blumentritt, T. B. (2005). Effects of perceived sexual orientation on moral reasoning. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Journal of Undergraduate Research, 8.
21. Hedges, L. V., & Olkin, I. (1985). Statistical methods for meta-analysis. Orlando: Academic Press.
22. Heine, S. J., Proulx, T., & Vohs, K. D. (2006). The meaning maintenance model: On the coherence of human motivations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 88-110.
23. Henderson-King, D., Henderson-King, E., Bolea, B., Koches, K., & Kauffman, A. (2004). Seeking understanding or sending bombs: Beliefs as predictors of responses to terrorism. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 10, 67-84.
24. "Inequality and the American Dream" (2006, June 17). The Economist.
25. Janoff-Bulman, R. (1989). The benefits of illusions, the threat of disillusionment and the limits of inaccuracy. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8, 158-176.
26. Jost, J. T. (2006). The end of the end of ideology. American Psychologist, 61, 651-670.
27. Jost, J. T., & Banaji, M. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 1-27.
28. Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 339-375.
29. Kaiser, C. R., Eccleston, C. P., & Hagiwara, N. (2008). Post-Hurricane Katrina racialized explanations as a system threat: Implications for Whites' and Blacks' racial attitudes. Social Justice Research, 21, 192-203.
30. Kaiser, C. R., Vick, S. B., & Major, B. (2004). A prospective investigation of the relationship between just world beliefs and the desire for revenge post-September 11, 2001. Psychological Science, 15, 503-507.
31. Kay, A. C., Czaplinski, S., & Jost, J. T. (2009). System justifying effects of victim-enhancement and victim-derogation: The moderating role of political ideology. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 290-298.
32. Kay, A. C., Gaucher, D., Peach, J. M., Laurin, K., Friesen, J., Zanna, M. P., et al. (in press). Inequality, discrimination, and the power of the status quo: Direct evidence for a motivation to see the way things are as the way they should be. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
33. Kay, A. C., & Jost, J. T. (2003). Complementary justice: Effects of "poor but happy" and "poor but honest" stereotype exemplars on system justification and implicit activation of the justice motive. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 823-837.
34. Kay, A. C., Jost, J. T., Mandisodza, A. N., Sherman, S. J., Petrocelli, J. V., & Johnson, A. L. (2007). Panglossian ideology in the service of system justification: How complementary stereotypes help us to rationalize inequality. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 39, pp. 305-358). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.
35. Kay, A. C., Jost, J. T., & Young, S. (2005). Victim derogation and victim enhancement as alternate routes to system justification. Psychological Science, 16, 240-246.
36. Kleinke, C., & Meyer, C. (1990). Evaluation of rape victims by men and women with high and low beliefs in a just world. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 14, 177-189.
37. Kravitz, D. A., Cutler, B. L., & Brock, P. (1993). Reliability and validity of the original and revised legal attitudes questionnaire. Law and Human Behavior, 17, 661-677.
38. Lench, H. C., & Chang, E. S. (2007). Belief in an unjust world: When beliefs in a just world fail. Journal of Personality Assessment, 89(2), 126-135.
39. Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York: Plenum.
40. Lipkus, I. M., Dalbert, C., & Siegler, I. C. (1996). The importance of distinguishing the belief in a just world for self versus others: Implications for psychological well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 666-677.
41. Lucas, T., Sheldon, A., Firestone, I., & LeBreton, J. M. (2007). Development and initial validation of a procedural and distributive just world measure. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 71-82.
42. McGregor, I., Nail, P. R., Marigold, D. C., & Kang, S.-J. (2005). Defensive pride and consensus: Strength in imaginary numbers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 978-996.
43. McGregor, I., Zanna, M. P., Holmes, J. G., & Spencer, S. J. (2001). Conviction in the face of uncertainty: Going to extremes and being oneself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 472-488.
44. Murray, J. D., Spadafore, J. A., & McIntosh, W. D. (2005). Belief in a just world and social perception: Evidence for automatic activation. Journal of Social Psychology, 145, 35-47.
45. Napier, J. L., & Jost, J. T. (2008). Why are conservatives happier than liberals? Psychological Science, 19, 565-572.
46. O'Brien, L. T., & Major, B. (2005). System-justifying beliefs and psychological well-being: The roles of group status and identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1718-1729.
47. Pear, R. (2003, October 13). Welfare spending shows huge shift. The New York Times (pp. 1A).
48. Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B., & Brownell, K. D. (2005). Impact of perceived consensus on stereotypes about obese people: A new approach for reducing bias. Health Psychology, 24, 517-525.
49. Rozin, P. (2007). Exploring the landscape of modern academic psychology: Finding and filling the holes. American Psychologist, 62, 754-766.
50. Rubin, Z., & Peplau, L. A. (1975). Who believes in a just world? Journal of Social Issues, 31(3), 65-90.
51. Rubinlicht, M., & Kaiser, C. (2006). Unpublished raw data.
52. Schmuckler, M. A. (2001). What is ecological validity? A dimensional analysis. Infancy, 2, 419-436.
53. Schuller, R. A., Smith, V. L., & Olson, J. M. (1994). Jurors decisions in trials of battered women who kill-The role of prior beliefs and expert testimony. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 316-337.
54. Sears, D. O. (1986). College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base on social psychology's view of human nature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 515-530.
55. Shorkey, C. T. (1980). Relationship between rational thinking and belief in a just world. Psychological Reports, 46, 161-162.
56. Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1993). The inevitability of oppression and the dynamics of social dominance. In P. Sniderman & P. E. Tetlock (Eds.), Prejudice, politics, and the American dilemma. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
57. Sloan, P. J. (2000). Relationship between single-sex schooling on traditional gender role perceptions and just world beliefs amongst college students in Orthodox Jewish communities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hofstra University.
58. Smith, K., & Green, D. (1984). Individual correlates of the belief in a just world. Psychological Reports, 34, 435-438.
59. Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2004). The cultural animal: Twenty years of terror management theory and research. In J. Greenberg, S. L. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology (pp. 13-34). New York: Guilford.
60. Taylor, C., & Kleinke, C. L. (1992). Effects of severity of accident, history of drunk driving, intent, and remorse on judgements of a drunk driver. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22, 1641-1655.
61. Tukey, J. W. (1962). The future of data analysis. The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 33, 1-67.
62. Twenge, J. M. (2000). The age of anxiety? Birth cohort change in anxiety and neuroticism, 1952-1993. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 1007-1021.
63. Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2001). Age and birth cohort differences in self-esteem: A cross-temporal meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 735-748.
64. U. S. Census Bureau (n. d.). Current population survey, The population 14 to 24 years old by high school graduate status, college enrollment, attainment, sex, race, and Hispanic origin: October 1967 to 2007, Table A-5a. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
65. U. S. Department of Education. (2008). Digest of Education Statistics: 2007. Report No. NCES 2008-022. National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/index.asp. Retrieved 27 July 2008.
66. Walster, E., Walster, G. W., & Berscheid, E. (1978). Equity theory & research. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc.
67. Weir, J. A., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1990). The determinants of mock jurors' verdicts in a rape case. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 901-919.
68. Whatley, M., & Riggio, R. E. (1993). Gender differences in attributions of blame for male rape victims. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 8, 502-511.
69. Yoshimura, K., & Hardin, C. D. (2009). Cognitive salience of subjugation and the ideological justification of U. S. geopolitical dominance in Japan. Social Justice Research, 22, 298-311.
70. Zucker, G. S., & Weiner, B. (1993). Conservatism and perceptions of poverty-An attributional analysis. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 925-943.
71. Zweigenhaft, R. L., Phillips, B. K. G., Adams, K. A., Morse, C. K., & Horan, A. E. (1985). Religious preference and belief in a just world. Genetic Psychology and General Psychology Monographs, 111, 338-348.