Hatred of the poor is universal phenomenon that cuts across all cultures, and yet does not even have a name.
I think it’s a kind of Just-world fallacy, “If I see people suffering, they must be bad people who did something to deserve it, because the world is just and people get what they deserve.”
Kind of a separate thing, but I think the psychological need fulfilled by that fallacy comes down to “I do not need to worry about this bad thing happening to me because I believe I am a good person and bad things don’t normally happen to good people. Not worrying about this is important because my very busy life has not given me the time to develop any other coping skills for that kind worry, and so if I did dwell on how this bad thing could very easily happen to me I would probably just be overcome with anxiety and depression.”
This, 100%. How people view the homeless (as a group, if not individually) is the quintessential, textbook example of just-world fallacy.
And your interpretation that it is a coping mechanism is also accurate. People need to resolve the cognitive dissonance of “I’m a good person, and good people help the homeless, but I’m not helping the homeless for X,Y,Z (possibly legitimate) reasons”. One of the easiest ways to resolve that is the just-world fallacy
I think it’s a kind of Just-world fallacy, “If I see people suffering, they must be bad people who did something to deserve it, because the world is just and people get what they deserve.”
Kind of a separate thing, but I think the psychological need fulfilled by that fallacy comes down to “I do not need to worry about this bad thing happening to me because I believe I am a good person and bad things don’t normally happen to good people. Not worrying about this is important because my very busy life has not given me the time to develop any other coping skills for that kind worry, and so if I did dwell on how this bad thing could very easily happen to me I would probably just be overcome with anxiety and depression.”
This, 100%. How people view the homeless (as a group, if not individually) is the quintessential, textbook example of just-world fallacy.
And your interpretation that it is a coping mechanism is also accurate. People need to resolve the cognitive dissonance of “I’m a good person, and good people help the homeless, but I’m not helping the homeless for X,Y,Z (possibly legitimate) reasons”. One of the easiest ways to resolve that is the just-world fallacy