I can imagine a situation where people feel they have little choice but support the status quo, that does not make them too dumb to see their self interest. There are quite a few reports from the Civil War on both sides of men rising up against conscription as the war dragged on or in the North of whites taking it out on blacks as it was their fault.

There's also the trope of the bonding that takes place within smaller military units that makes them committed not to the cause but to each other.

In addition the other side of people too dumb to see their self interest, I am not saying these people are dumb but we see that today if we turn on the news to see for one example - farmers rationalizing themselves being hurt by retaliatory tariffs on American farm stuffs - they seem cognizant of the problem, aware of the higher order consequences for themselves, and willing to accept them to try what seems to be on some terms a way to attempt for fair trade with China, and still support the President. It may be rationalizing but it's not done out of ignorance or stupidity.

What you are asking for in the end sound like some equivalent to Psychohistory in Asimov's Foundation, which would be a neat idea.