Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial

Book excerpt: Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial presents a psychoanalytic exploration of blame and collective guilt in the aftermath of large-scale atrocities that cause widespread trauma and victimization. Coline Covington explores various aspects of social and collective guilt and considers how both perpetrators and victims make sense of their experiences, with particular reference to group behavior and political morality. Covington challenges the concept of collective guilt associated with the aftermath of large-scale atrocities such as the Holocaust and examines the moral pressure placed on perpetrators to exhibit guilt as part of a realignment of political power and a process of restoring social morality. Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial concludes with a chapter-length case study examining Russia’s war in Ukraine. Combining psychoanalytic ideas with political, philosophical and social theory, Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial will be of great value to readers interested in questions of collective guilt, blame and the possibilities of atonement. It will also appeal to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, and to academics of psychoanalytic studies, political philosophy, sociology and conflict resolution.