diff -r 2fa3c68de07e Lib/test/test_json/test_recursion.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_json/test_recursion.py	Fri Dec 05 01:44:31 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_json/test_recursion.py	Fri Dec 05 02:00:48 2014 +0100
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import sys
 from test.test_json import PyTest, CTest
 
 
@@ -92,8 +93,14 @@ class TestRecursion:
                 """If check_circular is False, this will keep adding another list."""
                 return [o]
 
-        with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
-            EndlessJSONEncoder(check_circular=False).encode(5j)
+        recursion_limit = sys.getrecursionlimit()
+        try:
+            sys.setrecursionlimit(250)
+
+            with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                EndlessJSONEncoder(check_circular=False).encode(5j)
+        finally:
+            sys.setrecursionlimit(recursion_limit)
 
 
 class TestPyRecursion(TestRecursion, PyTest): pass