Lecture 12: consequences of collective violent among victims Flashcards
Consequences of collective violence among victims
(1) Community breakdown
(2) Collective victimisation
(3) Collective victimhood
(1) Community breakdown
Perpetrators can specifically target a community for the purpose of breaking it down.
(2) Collective victimisation
Multiple people having substantially similar victimisation experiences. This can be helpful for coping: a community of people with similar experiences can create a framework to understand their victimisation experiences.
Example: in Colombia there are villages especially for women who experienced sexual assault (without men around).
(3) Collective victimhood
The group is victimised, not because they were all individual victims of violence, but because they feel like they are part of the group that it attacked. Has impact on all those who are psychologically committed to that group.
Example: black people have been victimised many times, which gives all people the feeling of collective victimhood.
Positive effect of collective victimhood
Inclusive victimhood: can lead to support or action for the whole group.
Example: “no one is free until we are all free” - Martin Luther King
Harmful effects of collective victimhood
Cycle of violence: people who have been victimised feel that they have to retaliate (wraak nemen), which creates a cycle of violence.
The effects on the perpetrators of collective violence
Violence is aversive, we see similar effects of perpetrators as on victims, like trauma or need for sense-making.
Violence is also transformative and can lead to even more violence (feedback loop of violence).
Feedback loop of collective violence
- Group commitment –> increases motivation for violence –> reduced aversion for violence –> more violence.
- Collective violence –> increased group commitment –> increased motivation for violence –> reduced aversion –> more violence.
How the feedback-loop works
(1) Practice
(2) Social bonding
(3) Ideology
(4) Radicalisation
(5) Dehumanisation
(1) Practice (feedback loop)
Collective violence needs practice. A group socialises the members in a way that prepares them for the violence that they have to commit.
(2) Social bonding (feedback loop)
Experiencing violence creates a social bond. Having the same experiences, going through the same thing. Especially in forces recruits: they don’t want to be there, but forcing them into committing violence create commitment to the group and individual connections.
(3) Ideology (feedback loop)
Collective violence can shape ideology. Ideology gives a sense of significance. It often states that violence is necessary for the group to ‘survive’ or to ‘make meaning’.
After a violent attack, people need to make sense of that, leading to a justification response: violence is justified through ideology, leading to more violence.
(4) Radicalisation (feedback loop)
Radicalisation is a precedent and a consequence of violence (McDoom)
(5) Dehumanisation (feedback loop)
This is post hoc justification. Having already committed the violence towards the group, makes people want to justify their actions.
Study: white people read a story about the impact of colanisation. This caused dehumanisation of the victims, even after the event, to justify the actions of their ancestors:
- Stories about a disease impact –> dehumanised a bit
- Stories about the killing of people –> dehumanised a lot.
Collective guilt
Guilt that people feel on behalf of their group, even if they were not involved personally.
Example: white European students feeling guilt when thinking about their colonial past.
Findings:
- People ONLY felt guilty if they were offered a reasonable option to address that guilt.
- People felt LESS guilty if they were not offered a way to resolve that guilt.
