The Psychology of Political Helplessness
Summary. Even small daily exposures to oppressive structures of economic and political/social environments influence people’s psychological internalization of observed superiority and inferiority. Conforming behavior provides the necessary practice to develop the tendency to obey the “unavoidable” orders of oppressors in a learned “helpless” manner. The more hierarchical a political system, the more is helplessness learned with the result of uncritical and fearful behavior that is undermining democratic processes. The creation of awareness about existing power differentials and their detrimental effects is needed as the basis to enable an individual and collective path towards action against personal and social injustices.
The response of individuals not to respond to stress can be a learned behavior reflecting experience in which stressful situations have been perceived as uncontrollable [1]. If people have learned that their actions do not positively influence the outcome, they develop desperate feelings and related beliefs about the future, a hopelessness that often is also comforted through substance misuse [2].
The lack of, for example, economic, social, and democratic possibilities for groups of relative powerlessness withholds their expression and participation [3]. Research shows that lower socioeconomic status is indeed creating increased helplessness [4]. Even small daily exposures to oppressive structures of economic and political environments influence people’s psychological internalization of observed superiority and inferiority. As oppressors legitimize, so do oppressed start to accept unfortunate situations as unavoidable world laws in which everyone gets what he or she justly deserves [3].
Obedience in authoritarian regimes, without excusing terror and criminal conduct (we do argue in other places that we always have a choice), as an extreme but suitable example, can occur because individuals learned to obey authorities already before in other situations. Conformity of any sort in any domain, therefore, provides the required practice to develop a strong tendency to helplessly obey the “uncontrollable” orders of the instructor [5]. Dominant figures of high prestige are especially strongly modeled by its imitators [6].
Political passivity can be explained by a vicious cycle that leads from an unresponsive government to poor trust, low efficacy, and finally to an inactive civil society. Voters or organizational members’ perception of efficacy is external in the form of government performance, and in internal beliefs of one’s own political capacity [7]. The more hierarchical and despotic a political system is, the more oppression occurs that is causing the underlings to learn helplessness. As a result, an uncritical and fearful behavior is undermining the democratic process [8]. A measure of perceived individual levels of control is the so-called locus of control. High internal locus of control attributes results to individuals’ action, whereas external locus of control is describing situations out of the personal zone of influence [9].
Mostly diagnosed in girls in refugee situations with uncontrollable open refugee status decisions, the pervasive refusal syndrome is a maladaptive parallel development of learned helplessness as expressed by, e.g., the refusal to care for oneself and the withdrawal from any social contacts and eating. Also, a factor for this life-threatening disease is often families with an abusive background, typically where a daughter conforms to the mother’s fear of losing her daughter, why it is also called “lethal mothering” [10].
In conclusion, as hope is the hinge between the present and the future, moral behavior is depending on it [2]. The multi-dimensional problematic of (political) helplessness may be best addressed through a process of illumination that is creating awareness about existing power differentials and their detrimental effects, which eventually will lead to motivations for taking action against personal and social injustices [3].
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References
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[2] Smith, M. B. (1983). Hope and despair: Keys to the socio-psychodynamics of youth. American Journal Of Orthopsychiatry, 53(3), 388–399. doi:10.1111/j.1939–0025.1983.tb03382.x
[3] Prilleltensky, Isaac a., & Gonick, Lev a. (1996). Polities Change, Oppression Remains: On the Psychology and Politics of Oppression. Political Psychology, (1), 127. doi:10.2307/3791946
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[5] Neera K., B. (2009). The Milgram Experiments, Learned Helplessness, and Character Traits. The Journal Of Ethics, (2/3), 257. doi:10.1007/s10892–009–9052–4
[6] Chambers, S., & Hammonds, F. (2014). Vicariously Learned Helplessness: The Role of Perceived Dominance and Prestige of a Model. Journal Of General Psychology, 141(3), 280–295.
[7] THE VICIOUS CIRCLE Does disappointment with political authorities contribute to political passivity in Latvia?. (2014). EUROPEAN SOCIETIES, 16(4), 615–637.
[8] Bloom, S. L., & Farragher, B. (2010). Authoritarianism, Disempowerment, and Learned
[9] Huebner, R. B., & Lipsey, M. W. (1981). The Relationship of Three Measures of Locus of Control to Environment Activism. Basic & Applied Social Psychology, 2(1), 45–58.
[10] Hacking, I. (2010). Pathological Withdrawl of Refugee Children Seeking Asylum in Sweden. Studies In History And Philosophy Of Biological And Biomedical Sciences, 41C(4),
