Rebellious yet apathetic: System justification and learned helplessness in collective action
Rebelde pero apático: Justificación del sistema y desamparo aprendido en la acción colectiva
Cleno Couto
,
Ronaldo Pilati
Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, (2024), 56, pp. 16-23.
Received 2 November 2023
Accept 12 March 2024
Introducción: La decadencia de la democracia ha provocado un aumento de las protestas políticas en todo el mundo, pero incluso cuando las personas perciben que su situación es injusta, algunas no actúan. Proponemos que la justificación del sistema y la indefensión aprendida son factores relevantes para explicarlo. Objetivo: Probar un modelo de acción colectiva que considera factores de inacción. Método: A través de modelos de ecuaciones estructurales, estimamos modelos con datos de 961 brasileños, las variables fueron medidas por medio de instrumentos de autoinforme, como las escalas de Acción Colectiva, la Escala General de Justificación del Sistema, la Escala de Percepción de Justicia Social, la Escala de Afectos Positivos y Negativos y la Escala de Indefensión Aprendida. Resultados: Los modelos tuvieron un buen ajuste y apoyaron el efecto de derogación de la justificación del sistema en la acción colectiva, pero solo corroboraron parcialmente la asociación predicha entre indefensión aprendida y acción colectiva. En el modelo multigrupo también encontramos que las personas que tienen una motivación política más débil son más propensas a la inacción mediante la indefensión aprendida. Discusión: Nuestros resultados apuntan al riesgo de que la privación relativa genere indefensión aprendida, lo que puede contribuir a la inacción y al aislamiento social.
Palabras clave:
Movimientos sociales, percepción de injusticia, movilización política, sistemas económicos políticos, análisis multivariado
Introduction: The decay of democracy has led to a growth in political protests worldwide, but even when people perceive their situation as unfair, some do not act. We propose that system justification and learned helplessness are relevant factors in explaining this. Objective: To test a model of collective action that considers factors of inaction. Method: Through structural equation modelling, we estimated models with data from 961 Brazilians, variables were measured through self-report instruments, such as Collective Action scales, the General System Justification Scale, the Social Justice Perception Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and the Learned Helplessness Scale. Results: The models had a good fit and supported the derogation effect of system justification on collective action, but only partially corroborated the predicted association between learned helplessness and collective action. In the Multigroup Model, we found that people who hold weaker political motivations are more prone to inaction through learned helplessness. Discussion: Our findings point to the risk of relative deprivation in generating learned helplessness, which may contribute to inaction and social isolation.
Keywords:
Social movements, injustice perception, political mobilisation, political economic systems, multivariate analysis
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