Misery contests

Presents the author's views on the culture of victimization. The linking of victim status to economic resources that began in 1965 with Executive Order 11246; From an address on 'The Victim's Progress: The Struggle To Be Downtrodden in America' to the American Anthropological Association.

By Stephen Beckerman, published on July 01, 1994

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The Culture of Victimization

"The linking of victim stabs to economic resouces began in 1965, with Executive Order 11246, which added the stipulation that contractor periodically submit written 'Compliance Reports' indicating the level of minority participation in their projects. The tightening struggle for diminishing resources is what I am calling 'misery contests.' These are struggles, fierce and often covert, for the position of greatest sufferer, or champion victim. In a limited and limiting society that can award access to new resources only to some of its victims, that prize has gone to the victim who has suffered most."

ILLUSTRATION

Anthropologist Stephen Beckerman, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State Universe, to the American Anthropoligical Association forum on The Victim's Progress: The Struggle To Be Downtrodden in America.