Does the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status (SES) and System JustificationDepend on Civic Engagement?
Summary
This study examines the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and system
justification, a topic with varied findings in existing literature. Some studies suggest that
lower SES individuals are more likely to justify the social system, while other studies report
conflicting results. However, justifying the system while having a low-SES can have adverse
consequences. It is associated with lower levels of self-esteem, increased levels of depression,
neuroticism, ambivalence, and internalized stigma. Therefore, promoting a reduction in
system justification among those with low-SES is important. Civic engagement could play a
key role in reducing system justification. This study utilizes cross-sectional data from the
Youth Got Talent database to examine whether the relationship between SES and system
justification depends on civic engagement among vocational education students. A total of
434 students with a mean age of 17.5 participated in the study. Results indicated that SES was
not negatively associated with system justification; instead, a non-significant positive
relationship was observed. An explanation for this non-significant relation could be the way
SES was measured. This highlights the need for future studies to examine the relationship
between SES and system justification by measuring subjective and objective SES separately
to gain a nuanced understanding of their distinct impacts on system justification. Furthermore,
results showed that the relationship between SES and system justification did not depend on
civic engagement. However, civic engagement had a significant positive association with
system justification, underscoring the need to further explore how discussing and reflecting
on societal issues influences perceptions of social justice.