Search Mediators Near You:

A New Year’s Resolution: To Balance Fairness and Victimhood through Mediation

Arthur Brooks wrote an interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times titled, “The Real Victims of Victimhood”. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/opinion/sunday/the-real-victims-of-victimhood.html. There, he reluctantly acknowledged that America has grown into a country with a “victimhood culture”. Politicians sell the concept that ordinary Americans are “under attack” by the wealthy, politicians, immigrants and those of different religions. In terms well known to mediators, Brooks describes this by “motive attribution asymmetry”: where both sides attribute their own group’s behavior as arising out of love and the other side out of hatred or evil inclinations. In an experiment performed by social science researchers at Stanford University, the evidence was striking. People who articulated a story of being treated unfairly were not only 26% less likely to help the researchers when asked, but were more likely to leave their trash behind and even steal the researchers pencils.

In this new year, I hope that you will join me in giving voice to those who feel particularly and individually victimized, but in avoiding falling prey to those charismatic leaders who promise to speak for the victims en masse and to save them from the evil of those “on the other side”. One by one, we can address the wrongs befallen on individuals without characterizing the whole of America as being under attack by evil.

Like Brooks, I remain an optimist. But I am still watching our pencils.

                        author

Jan Frankel Schau

Attorney Jan Frankel Schau is a highly skilled neutral, engaged in full-time dispute resolution. Following a successful career spanning two decades in litigation, she has mediated over 700 cases for satisfied clients. Ms. Schau understands the nuances of trial and settlement practice as well as client relations and balancing the… MORE >

Featured Mediators

ad
View all

Read these next

Category

That’s Some Sweet Jazz Mr. Mediator

From the Mediation Matters Blog of Steve Mehta.Recently, I have had the privilege of discussing the topic of mediation and improv (both in acting and any other form of improvisation)...

By Steve Mehta
Category

Speak or Not to Speak

In the plenary session of a mediation, when you have your first opportunity to directly address your opponent’s decision-maker, should you discuss your case? The current practice is to say...

By Christopher Kriesen
Category

Regulating In-The-Way Emotions In Conflict Resolution: Is The Difference Between A Roar And A Purr Found In The Eye Of The Beholder (Or Ear Of The Listener)?

From Stephanie West Allen's blog on Neuroscience and conflict resolution. Conflicts that include runaway emotions can be very difficult to resolve, of course. Because there are so many methods of...

By Stephanie West Allen

Find a Mediator

X
X
X