Victims of the Itaewon crowd crush died twice: The role of justice beliefs (general vs. personal) and fatalism in predicting victim-blaming

Abstract

The current study analyzes how the two facets of justice beliefs (GBJW and PBJW) relate to victim-blaming in a recent man-made disaster that occurred during the Halloween Festival in Seoul, South Korea. We also explore the psychological mechanism that underlies the link between justice beliefs and victim-blaming by analyzing the mediating role of fatalism. We conducted a two-wave survey over the first 10 days of the disaster (N = 185 and 154 for Time 1 and Time 2, respectively). We found that the GBJW positively predicted victim-blaming at both Time 1 and Time 2, and this relationship was mediated by fatalistic cognitions about life. By contrast, the PBJW was not related to victim-blaming across the two measurement points. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and directions for future research on the link between justice beliefs and victim-blaming.