Bringing Back the System: One Reason Why Conservatives are Happier Than Liberals is That Higher Socioeconomic Status Gives Them Access to More Group Memberships

Abstract

Why are conservatives happier than liberals? Napier and Jost (2008) argue that this is because conservative ideology has a palliative (system-justifying) function that protects conservatives' (but not liberals') happiness. We develop another rationale for this effect and argue that we need to examine how ideology (e.g., conservatism) is embedded in the social system and people's own place within it. In a study (N = 816), we find that conservatives are more satisfied with life than liberals and that conservatism is associated with higher socioeconomic status (SES). Taking SES as a starting point, we find that those with high SES have access to more group memberships and that this is associated with higher life satisfaction. We failed to replicate Napier and Jost's finding that system-justifying ideology mediated the relationship between conservatism and life satisfaction. We conclude that conservatives may be happier than liberals because their high SES gives them access to more group memberships. © The Author(s) 2013.