Abstract We present evidence on a social mechanism of legitimation—ideological inversion—proposing that a fantasy consensus deters collective actions oriented toward social change, even in contexts were individuals support transformations. This fantasy consensus emerges as individuals infer the order’s validity mainly from the practices of others, which are largely constrained by social structures. Relying on a factorial survey experiment conducted in Chile, our results support the two main hypotheses from ideological inversion: people systematically overestimate the support for the status quo, and this overestimation has a deterrent effect on collective actions oriented toward social change. We argue that ideological inversion helps explain how legitimation crises often remain hidden, and therefore how political crisis often emerge abruptly. For instance, before the revolt of 2019 Chile was perceived as an example of social stability within Latin America, yet after an ordinary subway fare hike the country erupted in an unrelenting and massive wave of protests. Our findings suggest that the social support for the status quo previously perceived in Chile was a fantasy consensus enforced by constrained practices, and that this fantasy was very effective until recently in deterring social change. Ideological inversion thus provides a mechanism that contributes to explain the stability of social structures and inequalities regardless of individual dispositions or shared norms.

中文翻译：

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意识形态、合法性和集体行动：来自智利关于意识形态倒置机制的证据

摘要我们提出了关于合法化社会机制的证据——意识形态倒置——提出幻想共识会阻止面向社会变革的集体行动，即使在个人支持变革的情况下也是如此。当个人主要从他人的实践中推断秩序的有效性时，这种幻想共识就会出现，而这些实践在很大程度上受到社会结构的限制。依靠在智利进行的一项因子调查实验，我们的结果支持了意识形态倒置的两个主要假设：人们系统地高估了对现状的支持，而这种高估对面向社会变革的集体行动具有威慑作用。我们认为，意识形态倒置有助于解释合法化危机如何经常隐藏，因此，政治危机如何经常突然出现。例如，在 2019 年智利起义之前，智利被视为拉丁美洲社会稳定的一个例子，但在一次普通的地铁票价上涨之后，该国爆发了无情的大规模抗议浪潮。我们的研究结果表明，以前在智利看到的对现状的社会支持是一种由受约束的实践强制执行的幻想共识，并且这种幻想直到最近在阻止社会变革方面非常有效。因此，意识形态倒置提供了一种机制，有助于解释社会结构和不平等的稳定性，而不管个人倾向或共同规范如何。然而，在一次普通的地铁票价上涨之后，该国爆发了无情的大规模抗议浪潮。我们的研究结果表明，以前在智利看到的对现状的社会支持是一种由受约束的实践强制执行的幻想共识，并且这种幻想直到最近在阻止社会变革方面非常有效。因此，意识形态倒置提供了一种机制，有助于解释社会结构和不平等的稳定性，而不管个人倾向或共同规范如何。然而，在一次普通的地铁票价上涨之后，该国爆发了无情的大规模抗议浪潮。我们的研究结果表明，以前在智利看到的对现状的社会支持是一种由受约束的实践强制执行的幻想共识，并且这种幻想直到最近在阻止社会变革方面非常有效。因此，意识形态倒置提供了一种机制，有助于解释社会结构和不平等的稳定性，而不管个人倾向或共同规范如何。