[p2p-research] People who cannot escape a system are likely to defend the status quo

[Kevin Carson]

On 8/16/10, Ryan <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:

> People who cannot escape a system are likely to defend the status quo
> via Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought by NLN on 16/08/10
>
>
> A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association
> for Psychological Science, finds that people who are told that their right
> to emigrate will be restricted have what could be considered a strange
> reaction: they respond by defending their country's system.

This ties in, more broadly, with assorted theories of authoritarianism
as "ressentiment."  The rage of the oppressed, in classic "if you
can't beat 'em, join 'em" fashion, is redirected against safe targets
like outgroups and rebels against authority; the sense of oppression
is overcome by identifying with the authority figure.

-- 
Kevin Carson
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
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