An exploration of the origins and expression of violence in human personal and social relationships in its many manifestations.

Dr. Coline Covington - ‘Who’s to Blame? Personal and Collective Guilt on Trial’.

Saturday, 27th March
16.00 - 17.30

Our initial reaction to loss or injury, of any kind, is to ask who or what has caused it? Who is to blame? The person who has been harmed wants to find the culprit in order to set things right again, to restore justice and a world of moral order. Blame also assumes a certain degree of agency on the part of the offender and this assures us some sense of control over our world – bad things happen for a reason, not just randomly. Nothing is so frightening as being at the mercy of forces more powerful than us that do not conform to our social norms and rupture our world view. Even in the case of natural disasters, we look for someone to blame. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke, the Chinese were blamed and held responsible. Identifying who is to blame is important not only in terms of punishment and restoration but more significantly as a way of understanding and accounting for a collective experience that has been chaotic and destructive. The more extreme the destructiveness is, the greater is the need to apportion blame.

Just as individually we tend to blame our parents for the difficulties and obstacles we have had in our lives, large groups also use blame to make sense of their suffering and to regain a sense of power. While this is a natural – and justifiable - emotional reaction to injury, it raises fundamental psychological questions about guilt, responsibility, and how we resolve or live with irresolvable conflicts. Using political examples, I will illustrate how our Judeo-Christian morality reinforces and perpetuates a blame culture, stigmatizing others while exonerating ourselves.