1. *My thesis was written in greek, and it consists of roughly 50 pages of quantitative research
findings. The following is the abstract and the first parts of the introduction, namely 'System
Justification Theory' and ''Right-Wing Authoritarianism', translated in english by me.
Justice Beliefs And System Justification
Abstract
The present research has gathered responses from 217 individuals concerning the following six
variables of psychological and sociological interest: personal and general belief in a just world,
justice centrality, justice sensitivity-beneficiary perspective, social dominance orientation and
right-wing authoritariansism. The sample consisted of Greek university students and
employees. The results indicated a positive relevance between general belief in a just world and
right-wing authoritarianism. Furthermore, in male participants, general belief in a just world
appeared to correlate positively also with social dominance orientation. A negative relevance
was found between justice sensitivity-beneficiary perspective with the variants of right-wing
authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. Personal belief in a just world and justice
centrality didn't appear in the present paper to have a statistically important correlation with
either right-wing authoritarianism or social dominance orientation. The findings would suggest
that people who deem the world to be a just place in general will tend to be more authoritarian
and prejudiced in their beliefs. Moreover, that people who do not wish to be subject to any
special treatment at other peoples' expense will tend to be less authoritarian and prejudiced.
Key-words: Right-wing authoritarianism, Social dominance orientation, Belief in a just world,
justice beliefs, system justification theory
System Justification Theory
System Justification Theory was developed in order to explain how and why people tend
to accept and perpetuate the existing status quo (Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, 2004. Jost & Hunyady,
2002), even when they don't belong themselves in the privileged class, therefore making it more

2. reasonable that they would wish an overthrow of the existing situation. This theory has been
used to explain social phenomena such as working class conservatism, increased commitment
to the established authorities and meritocracy beliefs among the poorer classes and the
unconscious or conscious preferance exhibited by members of minority groups for people
belonging to the majority. According to System Justification Theory, people tend to justify and
rationalize the status quo, and as a result the existing political and economical conditions are
perceived as just and legitimate. This tendency seems to apply to members of both privileged
and less privileged social classes.
System Justification Theory as a psychological phenomenon has a reassuring effect on
the individual, seeing that it reduces stress, guilt, discomfort and uncertainty for privileged as
well as less privileged people. As Vaclav Havel puts it (1991), “The primary excusatory
function of ideology, is to provide people, both as victims and pillars of the post-totalitarian
system, with the illusion that the system is in harmony with the human order and the order of
the universe .”
This particular psychological phenomenon appears to have at least two negative
consequences. Firstly, it legitimizes descrimination and places the blame on the individual
rather than the system. Consequently, the poor are deemed responsible for their poverty, mental
patients for their disease and people who belong to majority groups are viewed as the norm that
everybody should try to comply to. The second negative aspect of this tendency is that the
acceptance of the existing system as just and legitimate intercepts any attempt to change.
Jost and Hunyady (2002, 2005) suggested the existence of a psychological motive that
supports system justification and serves to maintain or enhance the legitimacy and stability of
the existing status quo. However, system justification is not the only theory that serves to
explain and rationalize the perpetuation of the established social and political situation. It could
even be argued that this theory is merely a sub-category of theories proposed to explain why
people tend to perpetuate the status quo. Such theories are right-wing authoritarianism, social
dominance orientation, belief in just world (which have been studied in this research), but also
others such as the Protestant Work Ethic, Meritocracy and Individualism.
Right-Wing Authoritarianism
The theory of right-wing authoritarianism has its roots in the theory of the authoritarian
personality, which was presented by Adorno et al. in 1950 to explain the rise of fascism in
Europe during the previous decades. According to Adorno, the emergence of the authoritarian
personality is attributed to psychoanalytic causes. More specifically, it is considered to be the

3. result of a strong Superego controling a weak Ego that is powerless to command the powerful
impulses dictated by Id. As a result of this conflict, the individual tends to rigidly adopt rules set
by authoritative figures and comply absolutely to them (authoritarian submission). Furthermore,
the impulses originated from Id and not accepted by the strict Superego, are projected to lower
social classes who do not belong to the inner group of the individual, through the respective
defense mechanism and subsequently lead to hostility towards these groups (authoritarian
aggression) .
According to Adorno et al., a domineering, manipulative and hierarchy-oriented parental
behavior can play a crucial role in shaping the authoritarian personality. A child who is not
allowed to express hostility against its parents, will displace aggressive feelings towards easier
goals later in life, such as towards various minority groups.
From the first moments after Adorno et al. published their theory and corresponding
scale measuring the susceptibility of people to fascism in personality level (the F-scale, deriving
its name from the word fascism), it received severe criticism from the scientific community.
Eventually, Adorno's authoritarian personality theory lost its credibility due to methodological
errors in the F-scale, the failure of psychoanalytic interpretation to explain the extensive social
phenomena of prejudice and racism, as well as the inability of the theory to provide explanation
for the authoritarianism expressed in cases of extreme left regimes.
Right wing authoritarianism as was studied in the present research, was introduced to the
scientific community via the work of Bob Altemeyer (1981). The canadian psychologist starting
from the observation that not all the items of the F-scale had the same correlations with each
other, concluded that right-wing authoritarianism was consisting of three attitudes; authoritarian
submission, authoritarian aggression and conventionalism. The first attitude, refers to a high
degree of submissiveness to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate
in the society in which one lives. The second, to a general aggressiveness directed against
deviants, outgroups, and other people that are perceived to be targets according to established
authorities. Finally, conventionalism is described as a high degree of adherence to the traditions
and social norms that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities,
and a belief that others in one's society should also be required to adhere to these norms
(Altemeyer, 2006).
Altemeyer instead of following the psychodynamic approach of Adorno et al.,
incorporated in his theory elements of social learning theory. According to him, right-wing
authoritarianism was not a personality trait, developed in the early psychosexual stages of life,
but rather a behavior, result of social learning that people develop later in life. While Adorno et

4. al. were more concerned about providing a theory that explained the prejudice expressed
against national minorities, Altemeyer was more interested in the relevance between his theory
and political attitudes and beliefs. Finally, the scale that he created was free of the
methodological errors of the F-scale; it consists of a well-balanced scale with an equal number
of pro and anti authoritarian statements, internal consistency and formulation aiming to reduce
social desirability bias.