COLLECTIVE GUILT AND RECONCILIATION: TRANSGENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.2016.2.163-175Keywords:
readiness for reconciliation, collective guilt acceptance and assignments, younger and older generationsAbstract
The main objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between collective guilt acceptance and assignment, and willingness for reconciliation among the members of a Serb ethnic group in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We will examine which factors contribute to readiness for reconciliation in a younger generation who was born after the last war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and grew up in divided ethnic communities, and in an older generation who grew up in ethnically heterogeneous communities, and survived the war during the nineties. Survey included 406 respondents who belong to two different age categories, (203 persons of the younger generation and 203 persons of the older generation). Respondent were sampled from a population of Serb ethnic group on the territory of Banja Luka town (Republic of Srpska) during November and December of 2014. They completed several standardized instruments: the Scale of collective guilt (two subscales: Collective quilt acceptance and Collective guilt assignment), the Scale of readiness for reconciliation, the Scale of identification with an ethnic group, and the Scale of stressful war experiences. Multiple regression analysis indicated that variables gender, ethnic identification, collective quilt acceptance and assignment, and stressful war experiences explained 41.5% of the variance of readiness for reconciliation among the younger generation, and 15.1% of the variance of readiness for reconciliation among the older generation. There was a negative association between collective guilt assignments and readiness for reconciliation, and a positive association between collective guilt acceptance and readiness for reconciliation among both generations of respondents. Presented results confirm findings from the previous studies which showed the positive contribution of collective guilt acceptance on readiness for an apology and reparations.Metrics
References
Ajduković, D. (2003). Socijalna rekonstrukcija zajednice: psihološki procesi, prevladavanje sukoba i socijalna akcija. Zagreb: Društvo za psihološku podršku.
Bar-Tal, D. (1998a). Collective memory of physical violence: Its contribution to the culture of violence. In E. Cairns & M. D. Roe (Eds.), Memories in conflict (pp. 77−93). Macmillan: London.
Bar-Tal, D. (1998b). Societal beliefs in times of intractable conflict: The Israeli case. International Journal of Conflict Management, 9, 22−50. doi:10.1108/eb022803
Bar-Tal, D. (2000). From intractable conflict through conflict resolution to reconciliation: Psychological analysis. Political Psychology, 21, 351−366. doi:10.1111/0162-895x.00192
Bar-Tal, D. (2001). Why does fear override hope in societies engulfed by intractable conflicts, as it does in the Israeli society? Political Psychology, 22, 601−627. doi:10.1111/0162-895X.00255
Branscombe R. N., Slugoski, B., & Kappen, D. (2004). The measurement of collective guilt: What it is and what it is not. In R. N. Branscombe & B. Doosje (Eds.), Collective guilt: International perspectives (pp. 16−34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Branscombe, R. N., & Doosje, B. (2004). International perspectives of the experience of collective guilt. In R. N. Branscombe & B. Doosje (Eds.), Collective guilt: International perspectives (pp. 3−15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, R., & Cehajic, S. (2008). Dealing with the Past and Facing the Future: mediators of the effects of collective guilt and shame in Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38(4), 669−684. doi:10.1002/ejsp.466
Caouette, J. (2003). The role of collective guilt in the righting of injustices perpetrated by powerful groups: Unravelling intrapsychic processes of collective guilt through indirect measures (Doctoral dissertation). McGill University Montréal. Retrieved from http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1465299081805~199
Čalić, M. Ž. (2013). Istorija Jugoslavije u 20. veku. Beograd: Clio.
Čorkalo Biruški, D. i Magoč, A. (2009). „Mi“ ne možemo biti krivi?! Etnički identitet i opravdavanje postupaka vlastite grupe kao odrednice doživljaja kolektivne krivnje. Revija za sociologiju, 40, 211−231.
Doosje, B., & Branscombe, N. R. (1998). Guilty by association: When one's group has a negative history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 872−886. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.872
Elcheroth, G., Čorkalo Biruški, D., & Spini, D. (2014). War and community: What have we learned about their relationship. In E. Spini, G. Elcheroth, & D. Biruški (Eds.). War, community, and social change. Collective experiences in the former Yugoslavia (pp. 222−235). New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London: Springer.
Franc, R., Kuterovac-Jagodić, G., Stuvland, R. (1993). Upitnik za ispitivanje ratnih stresnih i traumatskih iskustava. In V. Vizek-Vidović, L. Arambašić, G. Kuterovac-Jagodić, R. Franc, T. Bunjevac (1994), Ispitivanje psihometrijskih karakteristika baterije upitnika za procjenu traumatskih i stresnih reakcija školske djece. Neobjavljen izvještaj.
Gunn, G. R., & Wilson, A. E. (2011). Acknowledging the skeletons in our closet: The effect of group affirmation on collective guilt, collective shame, and reparatory attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1474−1487. doi:10.1177/0146167211413607
Hogg, M. (2006). Social identity theory. In P. J. Burke (Eds.). Contemporary social psychological theories (pp. 111−136). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Iyer, A., Wayne Leach, C., & Pedersen, A. (2004). Racial wrongs and restitutions: The role of guilt and other group-based emotions. In R. N. Branscombe & B. Doosje (Eds.), Collective guilt: International perspectives (pp. 262−283). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139106931.016
Jelić, M., Čorkalo Biruški, D., & Ajduković, D. (2013). Predictors of collective guilt after the violent conflict. Collective Anthropology, 37, 1−10.
Licata, B., & Klein, O. (2010). Holocaust or benevolent paternalism? Intergenerational comparisons on collective memories and emotions about Belgium's colonial past. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 4, 45−57.
Lickel, B., Schmader, T., & Barquissau, M. (2004). The evocation of moral emotions in intergroup contexts: Distinction between collective guilt and collective shame. In R. N. Branscombe & B. Doosje (Eds.), Collective guilt: International perspectives (pp. 35−55). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139106931.005
Mallett, R. K., & Swim, J. K. (2007). The influence of inequality, responsibility and justifiability on reports of group-based guilt for in-group privilege. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10, 57−69. doi:10.1177/1368430207071341
Matera, C., Giannini, M., Blanco, A., & Smith, P. (2005). Autostereotyping and national identity in the Spanish context. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 1, 83−92.
Nadler, A., & Shnabel, N. (2008). Instrumental and socio-emotional paths to intergroup reconciliation and the need-based model of socio-emotional reconciliation. In A. Nadler, T. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), Social psychology of intergroup reconciliation (pp. 37−57) . New York: Oxford University Press.
Petrović, N. (2005). Psihološke osnove pomirenja između Srba, Hrvata i Bošnjaka. Beograd: Dokumentacioni centar “Ratovi 1991−99” i Institut za psihologiju.
Reik, B. M., Luna, R. L., & Schnabelrauch, A. C. (2014). Transgressors’ guilt and shame: A longitudinal examination of forgiveness seeking. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 31, 751–772. doi:10.1177/0265407513503595
Salmela, M. (2014). The functions of collective emotions in social groups. A. Konzelmann Ziv & H. B. Schmid (Eds.), Institutions, emotions, and group agents (pp. 159−176). London−New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6934-2_10
Schmitt, M., Branscombe, N. R., & Brehm, J. W. (2004). Gender inequality and the intensity of men's collective guilt. In R. N. Branscombe & B. Doosje (Eds.), Collective guilt: International perspectives (pp. 75-94). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139106931.007
Turjačanin, V. (2011). Oblici i izraženost etničkih identiteta u BiH. U D. Majstorović i V. Turjačanin (Ur.), U okrilju nacije. Etnički i državni identitet kod mladih u Bosni i Hercegovini (str. 192−219). Banja Luka: Centar za kulturni i socijalni popravak.
