How Belief in a Just World Attempts to Justify Racism

Before taking this academic journey, the phrase "just world beliefs," was foreign to me, uncharted territory. Frankly, I had no idea how someone's ideas about procedural or distributive justice impacted their racial attitudes. Whether someone believed the world was inherently just, that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get, seemed irrelevant to me and more of a question reserved for discussions about religion or spirituality. That's until I realized that people who endorse this idea that the world is inherently just have a tendency to justify the suffering others endure, a blame-the-victim mentality. Finally, I found an explanation for the "what was she wearing," and "he should have complied," callous responses we often see after race and gender-based violence. Melvin J. Lerner, social psychologist, coined the phrase "belief in a just world," during the 1960s, hypothesizing that those who endorse this ideology are more likely to express negative "<a href="https://www.structural-learning.com/post/just-world-hypothesis" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">attitudes towards innocent victims</a>" and attempt to "rationalize their suffering and maintained their faith," that the world is "fair and orderly." Extensive research has revealed a strong relationship between endorsement of just world beliefs and <a href="https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=12519&context=etd" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">blaming sexual assault victims</a>, as well as the victims of racial hate crimes. <a href="https://readcultured.com/why-belief-in-a-just-world-attempts-to-justify-racism-9cb519302586">Read More</a>