The public support of violence phenomenon through the prism of the just world conception

Abstract

In the conditions of information overabundance raises the question about the possibilities of a person and a citizen attitude forming to socially significant events. If in the previous century the justification of violence in society was often reduced to propaganda as the only source of information for citizens, then today the number of information sources makes one wonder, why propaganda has not lost its relevance and why people still justify unjust violence, despite access to alternative sources of information? In this article special attention is paid to the psychological concept of a “just world”, which along with the analysis of authoritarian government activity is able to explain the phenomena of citizen behaviour in the presence of state and public violence. To what extent is the human psyche ready for the realization of unfair and illogical world circumstances, and what factors contribute to this process? The author tried to find answers to these questions in this article.

Keywords

• conception of a just world
• propaganda
• political regime
• justification of violence
• political education