1115: Knock on What, Victimhood Psychology
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/04/26
“For example, sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning write that not long ago, the U.S. had a ‘dignity culture,’ in which people believed in their worth regardless of what others thought of them. Recently, they argue, American culture has moved toward a ‘victimhood culture’ in which people ‘seek to cultivate an image of being victims who deserve assistance.’ In this new culture, they argue, there is status in being a victim of slights — especially when these slights are announced on social media.”
Jean M. Twenge
“They noted that the emerging morality of victimhood culture was radically different from dignity culture. They defined a victimhood culture as having three distinct attributes: First, ‘individuals and groups display high sensitivity to slight’; second, they ‘have a tendency to handle conflicts through complaints to third parties’; and third, they ‘seek to cultivate an image of being victims who deserve assistance.’”
Jonathan Haidt
“In dignity cultures, there is a low sensitivity to slight. People are more tolerant of insult and disagreement. Children might be taught some variant of ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.’ It’s good to have ‘thick skin,’ and people might be criticized for being too touchy and overreacting to slights.”
Bradley Campbell & Jason Manning
“Although conceptual change is inevitable and often well-motivated, concept creep runs the risk of pathologizing everyday experience and encouraging a sense of virtuous but impotent victimhood.”
Nick Haslam
“People who have just been wronged or reminded of a time when they were wronged feel entitled to positive outcomes, leading them to behave selfishly. They no longer feel obligated to suffer for others and therefore pass up opportunities to be helpful.”
Elizabeth Zitek & Alexander H. Jordan
“Three studies found that the victim strategy consistently reduced blame, while the hero strategy was at best ineffectual and at worst harmful.”
Kurt Gray & Daniel M. Wegner
“Self-defined victimhood is a psychological state whereby, regardless of the etiology of the feeling or the ‘truth’ of the matter, one who perceives herself to be a victim is a victim.”
Miles T. Armaly & Adam M. Enders
“A sense of self-perceived collective victimhood emerges as a major theme in the ethos of conflict of societies involved in intractable conflict and is a fundamental part of the collective memory of the conflict.”
Daniel Bar-Tal et al.
“Common-enemy identity politics, when combined with microaggression theory, produces a call-out culture in which almost anything anyone says or does could result in a public shaming.”
Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt
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