Democracy justifies the means: political group structure moderates the perceived legitimacy of intergroup aggression.
The present research tested the hypothesis that the political structure of conflicting groups moderates perceived legitimacy of intergroup aggression. In two experiments, participants read scenarios of fictitious summer camps in which members of one group aggressed members of another group. The political structure of both the perpetrator and the victim groups was described as either egalitarian (defined with democratic decision-making procedures) or hierarchical (authoritarian decision-making procedures). Results of both experiments showed that aggressions perpetrated by members of egalitarian groups at the expense of members of hierarchical groups were evaluated as less illegitimate than aggressions committed in the three remaining conditions. This effect is discussed as a function of the higher social value attributed to democratic groups.
Falomir-Pichastor
Juan M
JM
University of Geneva, Switzerland. Juan.Falomir@pse.unige.ch
Staerklé
Christian
C
Depuiset
Marie-Aude
MA
Butera
Fabrizio
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003657:Decision Making; D003709:Democracy; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception