“You Should Know Better”: Expressions of Empathy and Disregard Among Victims of Massive Social Trauma

Historical group victimization entails moral obligations for descendants

“…Among Israelis, of the possible lessons that can be drawn from the Holocaust-which vary from strong entitlement to do harm to moral obligation not to do so, the former is endorsed more frequently than the latter (Klar et al, 2013). Thus, not only do the victims of personal and intergroup violence make meaning of their harmful experiences (Barel et al, 2010;Herek et al, 1999;Janoff-Bulman, 1992), but the meaning victims and their fellow group members derive is often one of moral rights or entitlement to do harm to others (Chaitin and Steinberg, 2013;Klar et al, 2013;Nadler and Shnabel, 2006;Warner et al, 2014).…”

Priming effects of a reconciliation radio drama on historical perspective-taking in the aftermath of mass violence in Rwanda

“…Each group tends to focus on the in-group's suffering and reject the adversary's suffering (Chaitin & Steinberg, 2008). In general, focusing exclusively on the in-group's victimization is associated with hostile attitudes and emotions toward the adversary in a conflict (e.g., Bar-Tal & Antebi, 1992;Danielidou & Horvath, 2006).…”

Shattered worlds: political trauma amongst young activists in post-revolutionary Egypt

“…You just … You just feel like you want to scream, and you want to scream at people's faces too. (Interview 29) Chaitin and Steinberg (2008) note that such manifestations of aggression are common reactions when built-up frustration cannot be successfully directed at its source -namely, the Egyptian political system -and become displaced onto weaker targets in one's social surroundings. In Cairo, feelings of aggression now dominated daily life, with individual and social outbursts becoming mutually reinforcing, thereby further impeding reintegration and reinterpretation.…”

“…Furthermore, whether other risks attached to social trauma, such as its intergenerational transmission (Prager 2015) and the further hardening of group identities (Chaitin and Steinberg 2008), will manifest itself in Egypt is subject to further empirical research. What this phenomenological account has shown is that amongst interviewees, the absence of social coping mechanisms has directly negatively affected their capacity of collective agency, and led to their withdrawal from the political public sphere.…”