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System justification and democracy: Is liberal democracy part of the status quo?

Salvador Vargas Salfate et al.

British Journal of Social Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70059article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Research has conceptualized system justification as an overall perception of legitimacy of the status quo. However, there is mixed evidence to determine whether individuals construe political systems and values that uphold them as part of such status quo. We reasoned that if individuals construe the status quo as encompassing the political system and its values in the United States, system justification should predict support for current political institutions and liberal democracy. Relying on a representative survey and an experiment (N = 1994), we found that system justification was related to support for current institutions but not liberal democracy principles, even when making salient different components of the status quo (i.e. economic inequality and liberal democracy). Results suggest that researchers studying legitimacy of intergroup settings or political institutions should measure legitimacy of those institutions rather than general perceptions of fairness, as individuals might not construe the status quo as encompassing those institutions.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70059

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@article{salvador2026,
  title        = {{System justification and democracy: Is liberal democracy part of the status quo?}},
  author       = {Salvador Vargas Salfate et al.},
  journal      = {British Journal of Social Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70059},
}

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System justification and democracy: Is liberal democracy part of the status quo?

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.