BJW · When saying the world is just backfires: elites' expression of the belief in a just world, perceived immorality, moral outrage and punishment wishes

When saying the world is just backfires: elites' expression of the belief in a just world, perceived immorality, moral outrage and punishment wishes

The unstable financial and economic situation that Europe went through during the financial crisis starting in 2008 ultimately derived from continuous malpractices by various members of the financial elite, many of whom have not been even prosecuted. Some authors say that the decisions made by the political elite to counter the effects of that crisis, such as austerity measures, worsened the situation. Others say there was no other way to address it. Regardless, the fact is that during their implementation of austerity measures, both the financial and the political elites justified them by resorting to moralizing and professorial narratives. One of these narratives was that some countries had “lived beyond their means”, which explained why they were then living difficult times and had to experience those allegedly unavoidable measures. Through this moralizing narrative, some populations, not their elites, namely southern European ones, were portrayed as lazy and irresponsible. Those measures and their negative consequences for those populations (for instance, unemployment) were thus presented as just and as a lesson. The targeted populations, however, felt these measures and the narrative(s) justifying them were unfair, and a number of outraged demonstrations against the measures, the narratives and the elites expressing them ensued. In this project, my main goals were to answer the following questions: Do narratives about justice, which are judged as moral when enacted by ordinary individuals, become judged as immoral when enacted by elite members? Do they make individuals more prone to wish various sorts of punishment targeting those elite members? What is the role of emotions in this process, namely moral outrage? Populations need elites. But elites also need the support of populations. With this research programme I aimed to show that elites'use of moralizing discourses targeting whole populations is a strategy that must be used carefully and sparingly (if at all), not only for their own good, but also to minimize reactance. Also, we must take into account that populism is on the rise. Although populists also resort to moral discourses, they target devalued minorities and elites, not whole populations, which promotes adhesion to their agendas. In sum, the use of moralizing narratives can backfire and contribute to democracy weakness.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union