Belief in School Meritocracy and the Legitimization of Social and Income Inequality.

IF 4.3 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Social Psychological and Personality Science Pub Date : 2023-06-01 DOI:10.1177/19485506221111017

Anatolia Batruch, Jolanda Jetten, Herman Van de Werfhorst, Céline Darnon, Fabrizio Butera

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引用次数: 6

Abstract

Educational institutions are imbued with an institutional meritocratic discourse: only merit counts for academic success. In this article, we study whether this institutional belief has an impact beyond its primary function of encouraging students to study. We propose that belief in school meritocracy has broader societal impact by legitimizing the social class hierarchy it produces and encouraging the maintenance of inequalities. The results of four studies (one correlational study, N_total = 198; one experiment, N_total = 198; and two international data surveys, N_total = 88,421 in 40+countries) indicate that belief in school meritocracy reduces the perceived unfairness of social class inequality in society, support for affirmative action policies at university and support for policies aimed at reducing income inequality. Together, these studies show that the belief that schools are meritocratic carries consequences beyond the school context as it is associated with attitudes that maintain social class and economic inequality.

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学校精英主义信仰与社会和收入不平等的合法化。

教育机构充斥着一种制度上的精英主义话语:学术上的成功只取决于成绩。在本文中，我们研究了这种制度信念是否具有鼓励学生学习的主要功能之外的影响。我们认为，对学校精英管理的信仰具有更广泛的社会影响，因为它使其产生的社会阶级等级合法化，并鼓励维持不平等。4项研究结果(1项相关研究，Ntotal = 198;1个实验，Ntotal = 198;两项国际数据调查(40多个国家的Ntotal = 88,421)表明，对学校精英的信仰减少了社会阶层不平等的不公平，减少了对大学平权行动政策的支持，减少了对旨在减少收入不平等的政策的支持。综上所述，这些研究表明，认为学校是精英管理的信念所带来的后果超出了学校的范围，因为它与维持社会阶级和经济不平等的态度有关。

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来源期刊

Social Psychological and Personality Science PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

12.50

自引率

1.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) is a distinctive journal in the fields of social and personality psychology that focuses on publishing brief empirical study reports, typically limited to 5000 words. The journal's mission is to disseminate research that significantly contributes to the advancement of social psychological and personality science. It welcomes submissions that introduce new theories, present empirical data, propose innovative methods, or offer a combination of these elements. SPPS also places a high value on replication studies, giving them serious consideration regardless of whether they confirm or challenge the original findings, with a particular emphasis on replications of studies initially published in SPPS. The journal is committed to a rapid review and publication process, ensuring that research can swiftly enter the scientific discourse and become an integral part of ongoing academic conversations.