Victim blaming

When restoration of injustice is costly, people tend to deny injustice by blaming the victims or by minimizing their hardships and disadvantages. ~ Melvin J. Lerner

Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a wrongful act is irrationally held at fault for the harm that befell them.

Quotes

• When restoration of injustice is costly, people tend to deny injustice by blaming the victims or by minimizing their hardships and disadvantages.
  • Melvin J. Lerner, Responses to Victimizations and Belief in a Just World (1998), p. viii

• People, for the sake of their security and ability to plan for the future, need to believe they live in an essentially "just" world where they can get what they deserve, at least in the long run. It was further reasoned that being confronted with innocent victims of undeserved suffering poses a threat to that fundamental belief, and as a consequence, people naturally develop and employ ways of defending it. This may involve acting to eliminate injustices. But failing that, by blaming, rejecting, or avoiding the victim, or having faith that the victim will eventually be appropriately compensated, people are able to maintain their confidence in the justness of the world in which they must live and work for their future security.
  • Melvin J. Lerner and Susan Clayton, Justice and Self-Interest: Two Fundamental Motives, Cambridge University Press 2011