Diffuse responsibility systems let culpable people genuinely believe they are innocent

Evidence

The second means of support for self-deception relies on mazy social systems of nonresponsibility that enable individuals to distance themselves from harmful practices to which they are parties. This permits them to believe that they are blameless. Culpable individuals can maintain a self-deceptive belief in their innocence as long as they remain uninformed about the adverse outcomes of their activities and have the benefit of social arrangements that obscure any sense of personal responsibility. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 711

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that genuine self-deception — not hypocrisy — sustains culpable innocence through systemic nonresponsibility is dense and paradigm-relevant for how ordinary citizens stay clean-minded while supporting harmful policy.
• XREF: Directly corroborates Cooper’s claim about social conservatism and the vault’s authoritarianism claims — subjects need no evil intent, only obscured responsibility. — connects to: People endorse digressive victimhood claims without believing the principle they invoke — Felix Danbold, Ivuoma N. Onyeador, and Miguel M. Unzueta, Dominant groups support digressive…, 69
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 711