Legal and moral guilt cannot be inherited, but inherited group guilt feelings can
Evidence
In both a social and legal sense, guilt is bound to individual actions and nonactions. Such guilt for the Nazi crimes is limited to members of the perpetrator generation. With regard to historical Nazism, the collaborative dimension of collective guilt may result from playing along with a murderous political system without active participation in acts of murder (Arendt, 1945). But still, this collective aspect remains fully limited to members of Nazi Germany who could be held responsible for personal action or nonaction. Guilt, as such, cannot be inherited or transferred; you cannot be guilty for crimes committed before you were born, but only for your own wrongdoings. While it is, therefore, very questionable if there is anything like guilt that can be collectively attributed to following generations, there is an intergenerational complex of group-related, collective guilt feelings among members who share a group identity with a negative history. This psychological complex needs to be distinguished from the concept of collective guilt in a moral and legal sense. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1155
Categorization
- DEFINE: Distinguishes moral/legal collective guilt from the experiential psychological complex of group-based guilt feelings across generations.
- XREF: connects to: Collective guilt can occur without any personal responsibility for the harm — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 71; 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 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- People feel guilt by association for ancestors’ deeds without direct responsibility
#exemplifies(0.95) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1810 - Guilt requires self-categorizing as a group member
#expands(0.80) — Torsten Masson and Markus Barth, The identification-guilt paradox…, 20 - Emotions can belong to groups rather than only to individuals
#expands(0.80) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2261 - Group identification can both enable and block feelings of group-based guilt
#qualifies(0.75) — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt, 16 - Group identification can simultaneously raise and lower group-based guilt.
#qualifies(0.75) — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt, 25