عنوان

They Rise, So We Fall:

Number

TLpq2311254158

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

They Rise, So We Fall:

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Belavadi, Sucharita

Title Proper by Another Author

Collective Victimhood Rhetoric, Identity Uncertainty, and Ingroup Survival

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Hogg, Michael A.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

The Claremont Graduate University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2019

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

94

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

The Claremont Graduate University

Text preceding or following the note

2019

Text of Note

Collective victimhood - a shared sense of us as victims - is a pervasive aspect of intractable intergroup conflict and is associated with a siege mentality. That is, harmless acts of rival outgroups are seen as dangerous and threatening to the ingroup. What are the conditions that drive groups to adopt an identity of victimhood and for a siege mentality to develop? Set in the context of tense majority Hindu and minority Muslim relations in India, the current work explores two potential antecedents that make ingroup victimhood rhetoric attractive to majority group members. One is a perceived rise in the strength and influence of a rival minority group and the second is uncertainty about ingroup extinction and survival into the future. In such conditions, victimhood narratives highlight bonds of suffering to ingroup members, helping create a distinctive identity. Study 1 results (N = 161) show that Indian Hindu participants reported greater religious uncertainty when they perceived a rise in Muslim (outgroup) vitality and influence. Moreover, a leader who employed a narrative of Hindu victimhood was least endorsed under low religious uncertainty, while a preference for the leader significantly increased under heightened religious uncertainty. Findings show that the mere perception of a rise in outgroup strength is associated with ingroup majority members feeling uncertain about their religious future, victimized, and under threat. While a victim identity is distinctive, it is still a position of lowered agency. Study 2 (N = 149) examined ingroup essentialism as a strategy groups use to remind themselves that ingroup glory and resilience are inborn as a means of preserving group boundaries and restoring ingroup agency. By essentializing positive ingroup properties as natural and inborn, group distinctiveness can be preserved by closing group boundaries to intergroup mobility. Study 2 results show that individuals who endorsed a leader who communicated a message of victimhood were more likely to essentialize the ingroup, that is, view ingroup membership and positive ingroup attributes as inborn. Essentializing ingroup attributes as natural should serve as a reminder of enduring ingroup resilience and as a strategy to unite group members to mobilize and preserve social identity.

Psychology

Religion

Social research

Social structure

Sociology

South Asian studies

Belavadi, Sucharita

Hogg, Michael A.

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y