Democracy as a legitimizing ideology

P. J. Henry; Geoffrey Wetherell; Mark J. Brandt

doi:10.1037/pac0000117

Democracy as a legitimizing ideology

P. J. Henry, Geoffrey Wetherell, Mark J. Brandt

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Democracy as an abstract belief system bestows rights to individuals and serves egalitarian principles. However, the language of democracy may be used to justify harmful treatment of others in the world. Data from 3 representative samples of adults are presented demonstrating that satisfaction with and support for democracy are associated with support for militarism, a hierarchy-maintaining tool, among those who oppose equality compared with those who support equality. Furthermore, these data highlight the importance of political (Study 2) and historical (Study 3) contexts, demonstrating that democracy is associated with militarism particularly when people oppose equality, in contexts in which democracy is especially valued, and at historical moments when it is militarily expedient (i.e., wartime).

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	648-664
Number of pages	17
Journal	Peace and Conflict
Volume	21
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000117
State	Published - Nov 2015

Keywords

Democracy
Equality
Legitimizing ideology
Militarism
Social dominance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Political Science and International Relations

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10.1037/pac0000117

Cite this

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AB - Democracy as an abstract belief system bestows rights to individuals and serves egalitarian principles. However, the language of democracy may be used to justify harmful treatment of others in the world. Data from 3 representative samples of adults are presented demonstrating that satisfaction with and support for democracy are associated with support for militarism, a hierarchy-maintaining tool, among those who oppose equality compared with those who support equality. Furthermore, these data highlight the importance of political (Study 2) and historical (Study 3) contexts, demonstrating that democracy is associated with militarism particularly when people oppose equality, in contexts in which democracy is especially valued, and at historical moments when it is militarily expedient (i.e., wartime).

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Democracy as a legitimizing ideology

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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