Failure to perceive injustice

Abstract

False consciousness can be defined as “holding of false or inaccurate beliefs that are contrary to one’s own social interest and which thereby contribute to the maintenance of the disadvantaged position of the self or the group”(Jost, 1995, p. 400). Failure to perceive injustice is one of the dimensions of False consciousness. The present study aimed to observe whether there is a failure in the ability to perceive injustice among young adults, and to determine if there is a significant gender difference in the same. It was a quantitative experimental study using purposive method of sampling. The data was collected from 60 participants (18-24 years old) residing in the metropolitan city of Bangalore, India. A self-designed one item questionnaire, administered at two points in time-T1 and T2, with an interval of two weeks, was used to collect data that was compared to understand if there exists a failure in the ability to perceive injustice. Wilcoxon’s signed ranks test and Mann-Whitney U test was conducted using IBM SPSS software, version 24. The results show that there is a failure in the ability to perceive injustice among young adults if details of a situation, that may cause bias, are provided. The study also concluded that there is a no significant gender difference in the ability to perceive injustice among men and women.