Collective guilt can occur without any personal responsibility for the harm

Evidence

Indeed, one of the most striking features of collective guilt is that it can be experienced by group members who were not in any way involved in the harm doing (Doosje et al., 1998). The essential ingredient of personal responsibility for the harm done can be absent when collective guilt is experienced, although this is an important prerequisite for “being guilty” in the legal sense (Barkan, this volume, Chapter 16; Baumeister, Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1994). — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 71

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sharpens the core definition by forcing the psychological sense of guilt apart from the legal-culpability sense.
• SEED: The guilt-without-responsibility paradox underpins an essay on how moral emotions track group membership, not individual action.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Legal and moral guilt cannot be inherited, but inherited group guilt feelings can — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1155; Mere membership in a perpetrating society can cause shameful identity without personal guilt — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 2078; People feel guilt by association for ancestors’ deeds without direct responsibility — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1810 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Mere membership in a perpetrating society can cause shameful identity without personal guilt #exemplifies (0.90) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 2078
• People feel guilt by association for ancestors’ deeds without direct responsibility #corroborates (0.88) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1810
• Diffuse, indirect harm escapes personal moral control more easily #expands (0.75)