Perceived group tightness drives collective blame for members’ misdeeds

Evidence

Collective responsibility refers to the phenomenon that members of a group can be held responsible for the wrongdoings of another group member. If one group member behaves in an unlawful, immoral, or socially despicable manner, then other members of the group may, under certain conditions, be judged responsible (morally, socially, though not legally) for that person’s actions. Lickel, Schmader, and Hamilton (2003) proposed that the extent to which collective responsibility occurs is a function of the perceived entitativity of the group. The more cohesive, interdependent, and tight-knit the group is perceived to be, the more other group members will be judged collectively responsible for a member’s deviant behavior. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 268

Categorization

• XREF: This connects to the reader’s work on social capital and trust — entitativity as a mechanism explaining when communities bear collective responsibility echoes Coleman’s claims about closed social structures. — connects to: Mere ingroup membership biases members to deny their group’s causal role in harm — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 298; Essentialized ingroup memberships channel blameworthy acts into image threat and shame — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 332; Collective blame drives vicarious retribution spirals that escalate intergroup conflict. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 351 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 268