Collective Innocence and Collective Guilt in the Persecution of Gypsies: From Deviant-Active Minority to Victimized Minority

Abstract

Gypsies have been a persecuted minority for more than five centuries. Our paper examines how exposing Spaniard participants to information according to which they personally, or their ingroup collectively, discriminate against the Gypsy minority influences (i) their attitudes toward the Gypsy minority (e.g., experience of collective guilt or support for affirmative action and other forms of compensation) and (ii) the collective (but not individual) accusation of discrimination against the Gypsy minority transforms attributions of the causes of their marginalization. We discuss the societal ethos that the new victimized minorities have introduced as regards majority-minority relationships.