Shared group-level frustrations, not individual ones, drive blame of outgroups

Evidence

Tajfel (1981) hypothesized that individual frustrations lead people to blame other individuals for their problems, whereas shared (grouplevel) frustrations predispose people to blame other groups. For example, a woman might blame her boss for firing her if other members of her ethnic group remain gainfully employed, but might blame an outgroup if she loses her job during an economic downturn that affects many members of her (but not of another) ethnic group. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1578

Categorization

• XREF: This qualifies the classic scapegoat/frustration-aggression claim in the vault’s Allport thread — individual frustration scapegoats individuals, only collective frustration scapegoats groups. — connects to: Collective blame drives vicarious retribution spirals that escalate intergroup conflict. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 351; Frustrated basic needs drive groups to scapegoat others for destructive fulfillment. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 79
• SEED: The economic-downturn example is a clean testable fork: individual vs. collective job loss predicts whether blame lands on a boss or an outgroup — an angle for the prejudice reassessment.