Victimization is a concept that in some psychological modalities is interpreted as the process of becoming a victim. According to one of the founders of the doctrine of positivist victimology, B. Mendelssohn, the concept of “victim” is the opposite of the concept of “criminal”.
The very term “victim” and the theory that a person, unconsciously or consciously, by his behavior provokes a criminal to commit violent acts, causes a lot of controversy among psychologists.
Areas of study
Before talking about such a social phenomenon as victimization, as well as identifying the reasons for its development and influence on other processes of social development, it is necessary to clarify the basic concepts of this term. It must be said that this problem is dealt with in such areas of scientific knowledge as psychology, sociology, pedagogy, jurisprudence, etc., which elevates this topic to the ranks of the most pressing.
General concept
Victimization is a social process by which a person becomes the victim of a crime. Simply put, it is the result of the offender's actions towards the victim. Here it is worth defining the concept of victimization. It refers to the tendency to become a victim. Thus, victimization and victimization are inseparable concepts, in which the former is a characteristic of the latter. It can be measured by the number of cases of harm and the totality of characteristics of the victims of the crime.
Victimization, how to get rid of it.
Severe victimization is considered a deviation that requires treatment. Therapy for people exhibiting victimized behavior is carried out comprehensively. A person whose victim behavior was formed in childhood needs the help of a team of specialists - a psychologist, a psychotherapist (psychiatrist).
Medications prescribed by a specialist can reduce the intensity of depression, ease anxiety, and normalize sleep. All this provides a resource for further psychological and psychotherapeutic study of problematic topics.
The work of a psychotherapist or psychologist with a victimized client is aimed at:
- revision of the attitude towards the events of the past, the formation of a strong feeling that something that happened before does not affect the situation today;
- formation of a stable, positive self-perception, increasing the degree of self-esteem, developing a sense of independence;
- correction of views, attitudes, changes in behavior patterns, revision of the value system;
- developing the ability to understand your emotions and feelings, control, analyze thoughts and actions;
- developing the ability to adequately communicate with others, interact productively, and correctly assess the attitude of other people and their intentions.
All of the listed areas of psychological work are very important, but they must be complemented by the formation of an environmentally friendly, friendly environment in which a person lives. It is important to reconsider your immediate environment, stop communicating or minimize contact with people who make you feel fear and feelings of inferiority. It is necessary to direct energy to those activities in which you can get good results and achieve success. All this is not avoidance or an attempt to hide from danger, but necessary measures of mental hygiene.
Victimization: concept and types
The founder of such a subject as victimology was L. V. Frank. In fact, without his influence the concept of victimization would not have emerged. So, Frank introduces his definition of the term. According to him, victimization is the process of becoming a victim, as well as its result, regardless of whether this is an isolated case or a mass one.
However, immediately after this, a barrage of criticism falls on Frank. Other researchers note that the concepts of process and its result should be different from each other, and not be a single whole.
For example, Riveman argues that victimization is the act in which a crime committed against a person has an impact on the development of his propensity. And if a person turns from a potential victim into a real one, then this process is called “victimization-result”.
Basic principles of victimization
The tendency to victimize is formed in childhood and consolidated in adolescence. One of the most important factors in the formation of victimization in children is the situation of physical and emotional violence in the family. A significant role is also played by the destructive influence on the psyche of adolescents from significant adults (relatives, teachers), and peers.
Under the influence of these factors, certain personal characteristics appear:
- increased anxiety, uncertainty and low self-esteem;
- emotional instability;
- the tendency to ignore one's own interests in favor of others.
Often, a “victim” with low self-esteem strives to prove his strength, rightness, and test his strength. This results in risky behavior (most often in adolescents).
In some cases, victimization is a concomitant of mental disorders. Problems of social adaptation of a pathological nature can result in a tendency to masochism and sadism, exhibitionism, and nymphomania. Similar manifestations of mental abnormalities can occur among victims of crimes (sometimes repeated with the same victim).
A person can also fall into the position of a victim if he:
- is in a subordinate position, he fulfills the demands of the aggressor, but very slowly, which “angers” the attacker even more;
- behaves provocatively or in his usual way, but the abuser views his behavior as offensive.
The fact that the aggressor in both these cases perceives the actions of the “victim” as offensive and unacceptable is solely his subjective opinion of the attacker. It is connected with the peculiarities of his perception and thinking.
Process communication
To prove this, it is worth noting that these two phenomena are inextricably linked. Any action aimed at achieving the state of victim has its logical conclusion.
This means that at the moment when a person is attacked, regardless of what the outcome of the event was, he automatically acquires the status of a victim. In this case, the attack itself is victimization in the process concept. And the person against whom the crime was committed is the result.
That is why victimization is the process of influence of one event on another. The more crimes occur, the higher the risk of becoming a victim.
What is victimization behavior
We said above that the behavior of the victim may or may not provoke the criminal. Criminologists, however, distinguish two types of active victim behavior. In the first case, she actually provokes the attacker to commit a crime: she threatens, robs, strikes, etc. In the second case, the victim does not want to provoke anyone, but her actions somehow contribute to the activities of the criminal. For example, an incompetent doctor only aggravated the patient’s illness, and the patient (or one of his relatives) begins to take revenge.
Psychologists also distinguish such types of victim behavior as comfortable and emotionally unstable. In the first case, the person seems to consciously choose the role of the victim; often he even admires the presence of the rapist next to him, because he sees in him a “strong personality.” Such victims are usually timid, fearful and insecure people with low self-esteem; with all this, they are characterized by resentment towards the entire world around them, they constantly complain.
In the second case, a person tries to be a rapist himself: he starts a conflict, gets into a fight; Such people tend to offend and humiliate the weak. When they encounter a stronger opponent, they take on the role of the victim. It is about such people that the proverb says: “A daredevil is among sheep, but before a daredevil there is a sheep.”
Sometimes it happens that people who are physically and psychologically strong and self-confident find themselves in the role of a victim; they consciously choose sacrifice to defend their principles or protect someone from injustice. Such actions may outwardly resemble victimized behavior, but they are not pathological and are justified in a moral and psychological sense.
Victimization Case Study
In order to understand under what circumstances an ordinary person becomes a victim of crime, it is necessary to conduct a number of studies.
Victimization and its degree are determined if total data on the number of all victims is available. This does not depend in any way on the severity of the crime, its outcome or the presence of other factors that provoked the incident.
Simply put, victimization is the totality of all cases in which an object suffered moral or physical damage.
In addition, thanks to the study of the degree of predisposition to becoming a victim, we can talk about such a concept as crime. If we draw parallels between the cause and effect of these phenomena, the conclusion suggests itself. The more victims, the higher the crime rate, which means that human destructiveness is actively developing as an element of the social life of society.
Prevention of victimization
It is possible to prevent the development of victim behavior in a child, adolescent, and later in an adult if the family, society, and law enforcement agencies are ready for this. Preventing violence is the main direction that contributes to the formation of a personality that knows how to protect its physical and psychological boundaries and has adequate self-esteem.
Ideally, preventive work should be carried out at several levels at once:
- family - developing in parents a high level of empathy, the ability to understand the psychological and physiological needs of children and satisfy them;
- identification of families where violence is used against children, work of psychologists, social workers and law enforcement officers with parents;
- creating a friendly, supportive and accepting environment in preschool institutions and schools;
- creating conditions in educational institutions for the psychological development of children, as well as for the environmentally friendly processing of their negative emotions (work with a psychologist, sports clubs, creative studios);
- teaching children and adolescents the rules of psychological and physical self-defense;
- clarification of the legal consequences of violent actions.
Another very important factor in preventing victimization is not blaming the victim for what happened to them and trying to shift responsibility for the violence from the perpetrator to the victim. The latter needs the support of the law enforcement system, family, and environment.
Irina Sherbul
Types of victimization
Like any other phenomenon, the process of becoming a victim is divided into types. Thus, by its nature it can be individual or mass.
In the first case, it is implied that the harm is caused to one specific person.
In the second case, we are talking about a social phenomenon - a set of both victims of crime and the acts of harm themselves, subject to certainty of place and time, as well as the presence of qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Another such mass phenomenon is defined by the term “crime”.
Also, depending on the degree of social coordination of both crime itself and the subject’s predisposition to it, the following types of this process are distinguished:
1) Primary. It means causing harm to a specific person at the time of the crime itself. It does not matter whether it was moral, material or physical damage.
2) Secondary victimization is indirect harm. It may be associated, for example, with the immediate environment, when all members of his family suffer from the theft of property from one person. There are other ways to indirectly cause harm. It is expressed in labeling, accusations of provoking illegal actions, alienation, humiliation of honor and dignity, and other actions aimed at desocializing the victim.
3) Tertiary. It refers to the influence on the victim with the help of law enforcement agencies or the media for one’s own purposes.
Sometimes they also distinguish quaternary, understanding by it such a phenomenon as genocide.
What are the causes of victimization?
Along with genetic determination, socio-psychological factors have a huge influence on the formation of victim behavior in the victim.
Unfavorable conditions for social adaptation:
- Alcoholism or drug addiction of parents.
- Having many children.
- Single-parent family (stepfather or stepmother instead of one of the parents, mother or single father).
- Family poverty.
- External or physical defects that lead to rejection by peers.
- Molestation, sexual harassment by relatives or strangers.
- Constant moving, changing schools and teams.
- Involvement in bad companies.
- Drug addiction, substance abuse, alcoholism in a child or teenager.
- Non-reciprocal love, romantic experiences and failures.
- Suicidal intentions.
Psychological factors:
- Emotional coldness on the part of parents.
- High or low self-esteem.
- Loneliness, awareness of one’s difference from everyone else, lack of love, recognition, oppression of a teenager as an individual.
- High degree of neuropsychic instability and anxiety.
- Social shyness, fear of showing your real feelings and emotions, suppression, excessive vulnerability and sensitivity.
- Excessive demands on the child in terms of education, communication with relatives, upbringing in a family with a strict value system that entails moral responsibility for all the individual’s misdeeds.
High victimization of the individual is formed in a family in which the child has a heavy burden of responsibilities, both physical and emotional. The child is afraid not to live up to the hopes placed on him by his parents, who form in him a feeling of guilt if he is not helpful and diligent enough.
Thus, the child is so afraid of disapproval from an adult that he can easily get into a car with a stranger who asks him to show the way, or go up to the criminal’s apartment under the pretext of providing help, and thus find himself in a trap.
Any factors that lower a person’s self-esteem increase his victimization. It’s as if he begins to feel that he “deserves” to be this victim because he did something wrong, out of a feeling of his own inferiority. His criticism decreases, and due to the lack of life and social experience, he cannot yet adequately assess the danger of communicating with a potential maniac or rapist. The inability to refuse and the attempt to gain approval makes him an ideal victim.
The cause of victimization may not only be low self-esteem. Victims with high self-esteem are also often abused. This happens because they take on tasks that they are unable to complete. Such people inadequately assess their abilities, are not critical of themselves enough, and cannot adequately assess the risks that their behavior entails. This type of victim very clearly displays that same victim behavior: they slow down cars, ask for a ride, participate in drinking parties with rapists and often initiate them, and agree to spend the night with them in the same apartment.
A person mistakenly believes that he is able, if necessary, to stand up for himself, and that his behavior, on the contrary, should turn potential criminals away from committing a crime. However, such inadequate self-confidence leads to sad consequences.
According to criminologists, a victim with high self-esteem is more likely to know or be in love with her rapist. Her criticism also decreases, she idealizes the object of her sympathy, does not see how the rapist really treats her, and may behave too openly and provocatively, mistakenly believing that this will not lead to tragedy.
Victimization is a socially deformed personality type. We can distinguish four main victimized sociotypes: conformist, infantile, anomic and marginal.
Conformist type:
1. A person feels his social failure and incompetence and does not have the opportunity to acquire these qualities. He constantly needs protection and patronage from a stronger person, recognizing her superiority over himself.
2. He strongly idealizes this more socially confident person, realizing his dependence on him, since with his help the victim makes up for his indecisiveness and softness.
3. The individual recognizes for himself that he cannot achieve anything without the support of other people, that submission and acceptance of this help is the only way to survive in society. He does not want to take responsibility for his life and destiny.
4. He is afraid of being refused social support, of being left to the mercy of fate, of solving his problems on his own. As a result, a person is constantly in emotionally destructive tension.
Infantile type:
1. A socially immature person who is aware of his inadequacy in the main areas of human social life.
2. All surrounding people are perceived as potential aggressors who want to suppress the infantile, humiliate his dignity, show their lack of involvement in his affairs and problems, criticize the victim for biased reasons.
3. The individual avoids deep interpersonal relationships because he is aware of his immaturity and incompetence in this matter.
4. The biggest fear is that those around him will adopt his attitude towards himself as an unformed person, someone who cannot be taken seriously and considered an equal member of society.
5. Avoids social comparison and evaluation because he is afraid that all his positive traits may be crossed out by the same social immaturity.
6. It is difficult for an individual to show his dissatisfaction, he is not ambitious, he lacks the courage and determination to make some claims to society, to declare himself.
Anomic type:
1. The individual considers himself a completely mature and formed personality, but at the same time he feels a certain social vulnerability associated with non-acceptance by others.
2. People are perceived as tools to achieve their goals at different stages of life's journey.
3. Due to the lack of social and intellectual maturity, he does not have a formed system of values, moral and ethical orientation.
4. Constantly suppresses anger and dissatisfaction with the fact that he has to live according to invented rules and norms in order to remain “one of his own” in society.
5. The victim strives to maintain his social independence, but at the same time it is difficult for him to cope with his problems on his own, and he seeks a social patron (as is the case with the conformist type).
Marginal type:
1. It is difficult for a person to understand his identity, since its features contradict social norms accepted in society. He has no desire to develop and accept a new identity, since the restrictions existing in society prevent him from “opening up” in all the colors of his personal attitudes and discriminate against his “I”.
2. Does not trust other people, fears their interference in his unstable, inverted state of personality.
3. He withdraws into himself, into virtual worlds and illusions. Where, unlike the world of people, one can receive that acceptance of oneself as a socially significant individual.
4. Avoids active communication and interaction with people as there is no need to receive any resources from these processes. Generally accepted forms of social interaction are simply uninteresting for marginalized victims.
Types of victimization
Since the concepts of process and result are inseparable from each other, the types of the latter should also be clarified.
Victimization happens:
1) Individual. Consists of a combination of personal qualities and the influence of the situation. It is understood as a predisposition or already realized ability to become a victim in conditions where, objectively, the situation made it possible to avoid this.
2) Mass. It refers to a set of people who have a number of qualities that determine their degree of vulnerability to criminal acts. Moreover, each individual person acts as an element of this system.
At the same time, mass victimization has its own subtypes, including group, object-species and subject-species.
How does victimization manifest itself?
Victim behavior , according to some experts, is reflected in the fact that a person often finds himself in situations where he finds himself in the position of the victim. In criminal psychology, victimization is considered as the ability to “attract” and attract the attention of antisocial individuals - rapists, maniacs.
According to victimization theory, the victim behaves in a certain way. His behavior arouses increased interest and awakens the desire to show aggression in the criminal.
Victim behavior from a psychological point of view
According to supporters of the victimization theory, it is especially often demonstrated by adolescents who:
- very ambitious;
- tend to defend their point of view;
- maximalistic;
- have insufficient life experience.
All of these factors cause teenagers to often find themselves in unpleasant, and often dangerous, situations. It’s not the result they hoped to get that forces them to “go for a second round” and achieve their goal. This again turns into trouble.
Some people tend to conflict even when there are no objective reasons for a clash. But it is known that those who offend their peers direct aggression towards children and demonstrate special behavior. They do not enter into conflicts even if their personal interests are affected; they try to avoid confrontation and hide from troubles.
“Victims” are vulnerable, naive, and physically weaker than their offenders. The appearance of those who more often than others fall into the “victim” position also attracts attention. Teenagers often have an absent-minded look, a rustic expression on their faces, stoop, their gait is uncertain, mincing.
Here we cannot help but emphasize that legal experts and the vast majority of psychologists believe that such “signs of a victim” in no way justify the criminal and do not reduce the degree of his guilt for the violence committed.
Two types of victimization behavior
People who tend to exhibit victimized behavior can take the place not only of a potential victim, but also of a rapist. Therefore, there are 2 very different types of behavior.
Compromising or conforming - people take on the role of a victim, expect violent actions against them, deception, and insults. They show timidity, easily submit to the will of others, and often not only justify the behavior of their rapist, but also consider it correct. The reason for such “worship” of the aggressor is that the victim sees in him a stronger personality who is capable of committing actions that she herself does not dare to do.
People with a conformist position have low self-esteem; they are confident in their insignificance and inability to decide or be responsible for anything. They shift the blame for their failures onto external circumstances or other people, like to complain, and do not hide their position: “What about me? I'm just a victim."
Demonstrative or emotionally unstable behavior is typical for people who themselves show aggression and provoke others. The form of provocation can be open or implicit. This behavior manifests itself in bullying of the weaker and psychological violence.
Psychological theories of victimization
As mentioned above, many disciplines are puzzled by the concept of victimization. Including psychology. Many scientists have put forward their theories to explain why a person turns into a victim. Let's look at the most popular of them.
According to Fromm, Erickson, Rogers and others, victimization is (in psychology) a special phenomenon inherent in every person due to the presence of destructive traits. At the same time, the destructive focus is not only external, but also towards oneself.
Freud also adhered to this concept, however, he explained that without conflict there can be no development. The concept of the confrontation between two instincts: self-preservation and self-destruction also fits here.
Adler says that every person has an aggressive drive. And typical behavior is a reflection of inferiority. It does not matter whether it is real or imaginary.
Stekel's reasoning is also interesting. In his opinion, in dreams a person shows his hatred, his actual attitude towards the surrounding reality and his tendency to manifest an attraction to death.
But Horney rather relates his reasoning to pedagogical activity. He says that personality is formed from childhood. Many factors can influence the manifestation of neuroses and, as a result, difficulty in social functioning.
Examples of victimization behavior
As mentioned earlier, people with low self-esteem are prone to victimized behavior. Confident that they are wrong and incompetent, they accept the other person’s position as the only correct one and force themselves to follow it. It seems to the victim that her victimization should pity the rapist and stop his intention to commit a crime. As a rule, helplessness and submission provoke the criminal even more.
One of the most striking examples of victim behavior is Stockholm syndrome.
This is the state of the victim, in which at one moment she sensually goes over to the side of her rapist and abuser. He looks for justification for his actions, idealizes his tormentor, tries to understand his motives, sympathizes with him, or even falls in love with him. Sometimes this comes to the point that the victim resists his savior (the person who is trying to get her out of an abusive relationship, or a law enforcement officer in the case of hostage-taking). This is the most classic example of victimization in criminology.
The victimized type of woman often faces domestic violence from her husband or cohabitant, and is subject to accusations of provocative behavior (she was brightly dressed and made up, stayed with her friends, etc.). The victim often, especially from her personality, accepts these accusations and under under constant pressure he admits his “guilt” and the deservedness of this punishment.
The victim’s victimization behavior can be more pronounced: ridicule, threats towards the criminal, an open call to commit a crime (takes “weakly”), infringement of the personal dignity of the criminal, an attempt to show one’s superiority.
Of course, the victim is not always directly or indirectly to blame for being subjected to violence. In this case, they talk about situational victimization. This is a situation in which the victim simply found himself in the wrong time and place, which is why he found himself in a situation dangerous to life and health.
Victimization is... in pedagogy
By the way, according to pedagogical theories, there are several age stages at which the risk of developing victimization is increased. There are 6 of them in total:
1) The period of intrauterine development, when the influence is exerted through parents and their incorrect lifestyle.
2) Preschool period. Ignoring parents' need for love, misunderstanding of peers.
3) Junior school period. Excessive care or, conversely, its absence on the part of parents, the development of various defects, rejection by teachers or peers.
4) Adolescence. Drunkenness, smoking, drug addiction, molestation, influence of criminal groups.
5) Early youth. Unwanted pregnancy, attribution of non-existent defects, alcoholism, failures in relationships, bullying by peers.
6) Youth. Poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, failures in relationships, inability to further study.
