Subjective status and perceived legitimacy across countries.
Mark J BrandtToon KuppensRussell SpearsLuca AndrighettoFrederique AutinPeter BabincakConstantina BadeaJaechang BaeAnatolia BatruchJulia C BeckerKonrad BocianBojana BodrožaDavid BourguignonMarcin BukowskiFabrizio ButeraSarah E ButlerXenia ChryssochoouPaul ConwayJarret T CrawfordJean-Claude CroizetSoledad de LemusJuliane DegnerPiotr DragonFederica DuranteMatthew J EasterbrookIniobong EssienJoseph P ForgasRoberto GonzálezSylvie GrafPeter HalamaGyuseog HanRyan Y HongPetr HoudekEric R IgouYoel InbarJolanda JettenWilliam Jimenez LealGloria Jiménez-MoyaJaya Kumar KarunagharanAnna KendeMaria KorzhSimon M LahamJoris LammersLi LimAntony S R MansteadJanko MeđedovićZachary J MeltonMatt MotylSpyridoula NtaniChuma Kevin OwuamalamMüjde PekerMichael J PlatowJ P PrimsChristine ReynaMark RubinRim SaabSindhuja SankaranLee ShepherdChris G SibleyAgata SobkowBram SpruytPernille StroebaekNebi SümerJoseph SweetmanCatia P TeixeiraClaudia TomaAdrienn UjhelyiJojanneke van der ToornAlain van HielAlejandro Vásquez-EcheverríaAlexandra VazquezMichelangelo VianelloMarek VrankaVincent YzerbytJennifer L ZimmermanPublished in: European journal of social psychology (2020)
The relationships between subjective status and perceived legitimacy are important for understanding the extent to which people with low status are complicit in their oppression. We use novel data from 66 samples and 30 countries (N = 12,788) and find that people with higher status see the social system as more legitimate than those with lower status, but there is variation across people and countries. The association between subjective status and perceived legitimacy was never negative at any levels of eight moderator variables, although the positive association was sometimes reduced. Although not always consistent with hypotheses, group identification, self-esteem, and beliefs in social mobility were all associated with perceived legitimacy among people who have low subjective status. These findings enrich our understanding of the relationship between social status and legitimacy.