“Back to the Future:” Ideological Dimensions of Intergroup Relations

Many phenomena studied by social psychology are based on ideologies. Ideologies are ideas or systems of ideas inspired by values and objectified in social norms about the way societies should be. This chapter guides our attention to the importance of the ideological dimension of intergroup relations. This dimensions had been emphasized already by Tajfel in his latest writings, but has then been largely neglected in intergroup research. This chapter covers research on explicit ideologies such as colorblindness and multiculturalism as well as equalitarianism and meritocracy, but also on rather ideology constituting fundamental beliefs such as belief in a just world, limited scope of justice, and denial of full humanity to outgroup members. The research the authors report demonstrates how ideologies and shared fundamental beliefs have a pervasive influence on people’s construction of reality and can bias their judgment and their moral feelings, often undetected by their consciousness. Importantly, these processes are fundamental for the legitimization of asymmetric status and power relations between members of different social groups.