Activist Theatre: The Effects of Community Performance on system Justification and Willingness to Engage in Activisim

Abstract

System justification is a motivation to legitimize the status quo that disables individuals from changing oppressive social systems. Community performance has long been used as a tool to illuminate and challenge such systems of power. The goal of the present study was to provide an empirical test of the effectiveness of community performance in the context of gender-based oppression. Specifically, the present study tested whether a community performance could decrease audience members’ system justification and increase intentions to engage in collective and virtual action to correct these oppressive systems. The performance consisted of 18 community-created pieces performed by 11 actresses before an audience of 165 members of the college and local communities across three days. A total of 153 audience members participated in the study. Results indicated that a 50-min performance reduced system justification while increasing willingness to take collective and virtual-based action. Limitations and implications are discussed.