Legitimacy

About: Legitimacy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26153 publications have been published within this topic receiving 565921 citations.

The political psychology of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: How can we overcome the barriers to a negotiated solution?

Abstract: Six political-psychological assumptions are presented as the basis for this paper's argument that direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are necessary and possible and for its delineation of the requirements of such negotiations. The last of these assumptionsthat neither party will enter negotiations that leave its right to national existence in doubtis linked to the psychological core of the conflict: its perception by the parties as a zero-sum conflict around national identity and existence. This view has led to a mutual denial of each other's identity and right to exist and systematic efforts to delegitimize the other. Such efforts have undermined the steps toward negotiation that leaders on both sides have in fact taken because each defines the negotiating framework in ways that are profoundly threatening to the other. Negotiations are possible only in a framework of mutual recognition, which makes it clear that recognition of the other's rights represents assertion, rather than abandonment, of one's own rights. Such negotiations can be facilitated through a prenegotiation process conducive to differentiation of the enemy image, including a breakdown of the monolithic view of the enemy camp, a distinction between the enemy's ideological dreams and operational programs, and a differentiation between negative and positive components of the other's ideology and symbols of legitimacy.

Social representations of history and the legitimation of social inequality: the form and function of historical negation

Abstract: Three studies examined the form and function of ideologies that negate (versus recognise) the historical basis of claims for reparation for past injustices. Historical negation (a) predicted opposition towards the resource-specific aspects of social policy and (b) functioned as the mechanism though which majority group members high in a threat-driven security-cohesion motivation (indexed by right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)) legitimated policy opposition in both undergraduate student (Study 1) and general population (Study 2) samples of the majority group (New Zealand Europeans/Pakeha). Study 3 experimentally manipulated historical negation in a general population sample using extracts adapted from political speeches, and demonstrated that historical negation increased opposition among liberal voters towards the resource-specific aspects of bicultural policy. These results suggest that history serves an important symbolic function in mobilising support for public policies regarding intergroup relations because temporal continuity is central to claims of legitimacy, especially where resources are involved. Research in this area is important for any nation with a history of intergroup conflict, as it aids not only in understanding the form and function of historical narratives that legitimate social inequality, but also provides insight into the ways in which such discourses can be countered and re-formulated in order to promote social equality. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The rights of the subject in social research: An analysis in terms of relative power and legitimacy.

Abstract: T HE increasing use of social research in American society and its increasing rele­ vance to public policy and social decisions have engendered widespread concerns about the ethical implications of such research activities. Briefly, these concerns are of two kinds: (a) con, cerns relating to the processes of social research, which are exemplified best by the issue of invasion of privacy and its various ramifications; and (b) concerns relating to the products of social research, which focus largely on the fear that social research may provide tools for controlling and manipulating human behavior and, more specifically, that these tools may be used by some segments of the society at the expense of others. Along with many social scientists, I share the conviction that hoth the process and the products of social research-both the attempt to ask syste­ matic and analytic questions about human behavior and social institu tions, and the answers provided by these attempts-are potentially liberating forces in our society. Social research, in my admittedly biased view, can and does contribule 10 enhancing the freedom of choice of the individual and 10 ex­ paDding the range of choices available to him. Yet,

Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women

Abstract: Disadvantaged groups gain advantages from descriptive representation in at least four contexts. In contexts of group mistrust and uncrystallized interests, the better communication and experiential knowledge of descriptive representatives enhances their substantive representation of the group's interests by improving the quality of deliberation. In contexts of historical political subordination and low de facto legitimacy, descriptive representation helps create a social perception of “Political Competence” and increases attachment of the members to the political system and its institutions. When the implementation of descriptive representation involves some costs in other values, accepting those negative externalities makes most sense in these specific historical contexts.