The Context, Content, and Claims of Humiliation in Response to Collective Victimhood

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of humiliation in experiences of collective victimization. Humiliation is conceptualized as a self-conscious emotion that is distinct from shame, anger, and embarrassment. Humiliation is experienced when dehumanizing and devaluing treatment occurs that is appraised as illegitimate. The chapter discusses the paradox in the literature on humiliation, whereby both action (e.g., cycles of violence) and suppression of action (e.g., demobilization of resistance) have been observed as an outcome of humiliation. Drawing on research on the experience of Dalits in the Hindu caste system, a conceptualization of humiliation is presented that is relational, victim centered, and focused on agency and power relations. Humiliation is conceptualized as a claim, which involves both the appraisal of certain acts of victimization as humiliating, and the political act of communicating resentment to the perpetrator. Overall, humiliation can be used to mobilize or demobilize resistance to oppression.

From Threat to Challenge: Understanding the Impact of Historical Collective Trauma on Contemporary Intergroup Conflict

“…A great deal of social-psychological work has been devoted to understanding the multitude of threats caused by victimization. In addition to identity threat caused by loss of agency ( Shnabel & Nadler, 2008 ), victim-group members can also experience threats to autonomy ( Kachanoff et al, 2020 ), dignity and self-respect ( Jogdand et al, 2020 ), and value and meaning ( Hirschberger, Ein-Dor, et al, 2016 ). In cases of extreme intergroup violence, collective victimization can also entail an existential threat that promotes a perpetual sense of group vulnerability, collective angst, and a mindset of being “an expiring people, forever on the verge of ceasing to be” ( Rawidowicz, 1967 , p. 423; Hirschberger & Ein-Dor, 2020 ; Hirschberger, Ein-Dor, et al, 2016 ; Kelman, 1992 ; Schori-Eyal, Klar, & Ben-Ami, 2017 ; Schori-Eyal, Klar, Roccas, & McNeill, 2017 ; Wohl et al, 2010 ).…”

“…On the one hand, historical trauma presents a variety of situational demands. For the victim group, collective victimization can serve as a reminder of loss of agency, dignity, and autonomy; physical and symbolic harm to the in-group; and even danger to the group’s very existence and survival ( Hirschberger & Ein-Dor, 2020 ; Hirschberger, Ein-Dor, et al, 2016 ; Jogdand et al, 2020 ; Kachanoff et al, 2020 ; Shnabel & Nadler, 2008 ). For the perpetrator group, collective harm doing can serve as a reminder of loss of moral identity and reputation as well as social exclusion from the broader society and the international community ( Shnabel & Nadler, 2008 ).…”

Laying the Ground for a Critical Psychology of Caste

“…Importantly, caste-based humiliation was conceptualized as a psychological rather than a physical injury that involves disrespecting and demeaning Dalits and lower castes, damaging their self-respect, attacking their human dignity, and causing them moral hurt and pain. This influential work has not only made interventions into the fields of political and moral theory, but also provided a direction for developing a social psychological conceptualisation of humiliation (Jogdand, Khan & Reicher 2020).…”