Acts in which a person is the target of violence that results in physical or psychological injury are understood as victimization (Cruz, 1999). This violence is based on unfair treatment and perpetuated to achieve political, economic, or social goals against another group or individual. Victimization refers to the objective harm inflicted by one group on another, whereas victimhood refers to the psychological experience and effects of such harm. The following text provides examples of experiences of harm, psychological or physical abuse, violence, and exploitation that are not detailed.
Framing & Perspectives
In the context of victimization, there are two dominant forms: structural violence and direct violence. Structural violence is when harm and, with it, victimization, are caused by discriminatory societal structures and practices. It can lead to disparities in areas such as health, housing, education, and work, which can affect life expectancy (Christie, Tint, Wagner, & Winter, 2008). Colonization, occupation, slavery, ethnic conflict, terrorism, hate crimes, war, and genocide are examples of victimization caused by direct violence. This type of violence invariably has a range of psychological, physical, and political consequences. Which groups are most often victimized depends on the country and who is considered a minority compared to the dominant culture. Societal structures in that context discriminate against the minority group (Fluit et al., 2024).
The term victimization is relatively new to the field of social psychology. Originally from criminology and victimology, the term refers to the process of becoming a victim of a crime, now specifically called crime victimization (Renzetti, 2008). The concept of the victimization of minority groups, or historically discriminated groups, was created by researchers writing about conflicts leading to acts of violence and unresolved wars (Bar-Tal & Antebi, 1992).
While victimization usually results from experiencing external violence, self-victimization involves seeing oneself as an innocent victim whose actions are justified in response to provocation. As a result, one may feel self-righteous in their future behavior (Bandura, 1999). This was widely used in Nazi propaganda, which depicted Jews as aggressors and the German people as victims (Herf, 2006). Like this, weaponized victimhood refers to a sense of diminished authority and self-worth experienced by social groups when confronted with challenges to their historically privileged status positions (Bebout, 2019). For instance, many right-wing politicians play the victim to make themselves appear under attack by societal or political opponents. This tactic diverts attention away from their policies and actions, portraying them as defenders of traditional values, e.g., when they polarize against migration.
Relevance
Victimization is an ongoing process that, in a society that has built-in systems to work against certain individuals, is difficult to escape. A person who is experiencing victimization can face everyday struggles, such as lower self-esteem, self-blame, economic instability, social isolation, work issues caused by stress, navigating the legal system that was built to oppose them, invalidation, and stigma. The psychological well-being (e.g., self-esteem, sadness, anxiety, psychological discomfort, life satisfaction) of affected group members can be frequently negatively impacted by both structural and direct victimization (Schmitt et al., 2014).
In Western cultures, the term “victim” is a potent social label. Besides more empathic reactions, a victimized person might have to deal with experiencing the violent event and also with the expectations placed on them to fulfill a specific role in the victim-offender relationship (Gromet & Okimoto, 2024).However, this empathic reaction can come at a cost. In addition to experiencing a violent event, the victimized person might also have to deal with expectations placed on them to fulfill a specific role in the victim-offender relationship. These expectations can lead to cultural and moral judgments (Gromet & Okimoto, 2024).
For example, peers tend to want to work less with victims who did not accept the perpetrator’s attempts to make amends, blaming them for not doing their part to resolve the victimization. Society’s judgement plays an important role in how individuals are victimized and how they experience it. For example, if a Black football player reports that he was racially abused by one of the club’s fans, and the team claims that it was not important enough to cause a scene, then victimizes the Black football player and minimizes the violence (Midlane, 2025).
Victimization can be used as a communication strategy to mobilize people and groups to achieve group goals. Claims of victimization can be strategically used as a rhetorical tool to influence perceptions and potentially delegitimize or obscure the actual experiences of systemic oppression faced by other minority groups (Maxwell et al., 2024). Shared victimization can serve as a powerful basis for a group and its cohesion, leading to seeking support or engaging in conflict. It can be instrumentalized to create a competitive repertoire of victimhood where minority groups compete over their perceived suffering instead of fighting the powerful groups or to draw from the repertoires that foster a sense of shared victimization.
Keywords: Victim, Systematic Violence, Prejudice, Marginalization, Conflict, Stereotypes, Abuse, Exploitation
Connected terms: Microaggressions, Victim Blaming, Fatphobia, Gender-based violence, Sexual Misconduct, Transgender, Ethnocentrism
References
Cruz, J. M. (1999). La Victimización por violencia urbana: Niveles y factores asociados en ciudades de América latina y España. Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 5(4–5). https://doi.org/10.1590/s1020-49891999000400009
Christie, D. J., Tint, B. S., Wagner, R. V., & Winter, D. D. (2008). Peace psychology for a peaceful world. American Psychologist, 63(6), 540. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.63.6.540
Fluit, S., Cortés-García, L., & von Soest, T. (2024). Social Marginalization: A Scoping Review of 50 Years of Research. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/n6g2h
Renzetti, C. M. (2008). Criminal behavior, theories of. Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict, 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-820195-4.00208-9
Bar-Tal, D., & Antebi, D. (1992). Beliefs about negative intentions of the world: A study of the Israeli siege mentality. Political Psychology, 13(4), 633. https://doi.org/10.2307/3791494
Schmitt, M. T., Branscombe, N. R., Postmes, T., & Garcia, A. (2014). The consequences of perceived discrimination for psychological well-being: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 140(4), 921–948. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035754
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of Inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review 3 (3): 193–209.
Herf, J. (2006). The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press Of Harvard University Press.
Gromet, D. M., & Okimoto, T. G. (2014). Back into the fold: The influence of offender amends and victim forgiveness on peer reintegration. Business Ethics Quarterly, 24(3), 411–441. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq20147814
Midlane, T. (2025). Black footballer was “victimised” by his own club after complaining that one of its fans “racially abused” him, judge rules |. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14254829/black-footballer-victimised-club-complaint-fans-racial-abuse.html
Bebout, L. (2019). Weaponizing victimhood. News on the Right, 64–83. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190913540.003.0004 Maxwell, C., Selvanathan, H. P., Hames, S., Crimston, C. R., & Jetten, J. (2024). A mixed‐methods approach to understand victimization discourses by opposing feminist sub‐groups on Social Media. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12785
