Just world hypothesis:
the idea that the world is a fair and orderly place where what happens to people generally is what they deserve. In other words, bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good people. This view enables an individual to confront his or her physical and social environments as though they were stable and predictable but may, for example, result in the belief that the innocent victim of an accident or attack must somehow be responsible for or deserve it. Also called belief in a just world; just-world bias; just-world phenomenon. [postulated by Canadian psychologist Melvin J. Lerner (1929) (American Psychological Association).
So many of us have internalized this belief in the “just world” that we lose sight of objective circumstances. Fundamental attribution error may also worsen the effect of the just world hypothesis – if one attributes one's luck to their achievements, and others' bad luck to their character, a vicious cycle is created; where one might feel like a victim of austere fate, yet others are always responsible for their own misfortune.
Many religions perpetuate or even create the cycle of false cause and effect relationships, where “bad deeds” are avenged by the omnipresent powers; and “good ones” also are equally rewarded. We often present children with the simplistic dichotomy of good and evil to spare them yet the complexity of the world; and somehow, over the course of history, we’ve forgotten to teach the older ones to examine the world through a different lens; thus leaving the erroneous view to guide them into adulthood.
It is understandable who we may be clinging to such beliefs as adults. It feels safe, reassuring, it reduces the horror of existential dread, the unknown, the unfathomable. It “feels” right, intuitive, almost; even though, analysis shows that one’s sense of “right” is conditioned by many social factors: upbringing, the state of collective unconscious of this individual’s particular community; circumstantial evidence, such as coincidences; and many more factors may be at work to support such notions and make them a given in particular sectors of society.
Much harm can be done due to this seemingly innocuous conviction. Victim blaming is the most apparent consequence of the just world hypothesis. Many chronically ill will relate to you a story of not only physical misery, but yet even a more forlorn tale of internal struggle against shame and guilt – what have they done to deserve it? Could have they done anything to prevent their condition? What if they are making it worse unknowingly? Assuming full responsibility of an illness is not only unhelpful, it is pure absurdity – many factors have to align in order for one to begin suffering from an ailment, especially, a chronic one: genetic predisposition, environmental conditions, luck (or lack thereof), and many more. Feeling ashamed of one’s health condition may indirectly lead to symptoms concealment, patients not seeking out proper medical care, obstruction of accurate diagnoses due to the aforementioned two, and other outcomes connected to the feelings of shame and guilt. Serious complications and even death may be the result of one’s conviction they are somehow to blame for being sick. Blaming one for being sick! The lowliest of blows delivered by the depth of human ignorance.
Another possible and common outcome of the belief in the just world is the perpetuation of the cycle of abuse by blaming the victim of somehow “deserving” the maltreatment. If the abused one is a child – the chances of said child to grow up and become the perpetrator oneself increase tenfold. It may become “natural” for the said individual to speak the language of violence and perceive it as the norm. The belief that if one “turned out just fine” after being subjected to abuse, making it somehow appropriate to carry on the legacy of abusive behavior, is utterly illogical and reminds one of simple revenge. “If I suffered, why shouldn't you?” is, unfortunately, a much more common occurrence than we'd like to admit.
The just world hypothesis may also lead one to the path of self-righteousness and a sense of superiority. Attributing one's luck to one's “hard work” (which is also falling for the fundamental attribution error, as mentioned earlier) may open up a window for a yet another unhealthy perspective – an attitude of arrogance, the infamous Greek vice of hubris; where one considers oneself to do it all by themselves. I did! I deserve the privileges! If they work hard enough, they'll get there, too!
But life is not a fairytale where everyone and everything plays by the rules. That is the secret we are supposed to outgrow at approximately 10, if not earlier. Yet, we cling to the fantasy. Envy encompasses us. Why can they get it, not me? What do I do to achieve it? I must work harder! I must not be wiling hard enough! I must will more, more, more!
And the modern capitalist state thrives off of this mindset. Here, little slave, here is the dream, chase it, see how close it is? Just follow the golden carrot, it is right in front of you, so low, you'll get it, just try a little harder, walk a little faster, want a little stronger!
And we pour our life's energy into the bottomless pit of greed, and march obediently towards the “dream” of justice and freedom. But justice and freedom are not dreams. Justice and freedom are made, forged by us, watered by upbringing, nourished by conditions we create, kept alive by our collective efforts, not “earned”; these are works in progress, never perfectly defined and “completely achieved”. Yet, they are not leering, empty promises of bourgeois philosophizing – you can see them, and feel them, and touch them with your hands and make them your own.
But I digress, and going back to the just world hypothesis and its feeble logic and tangible harm, I want to emphasize that abandoning such beliefs is of an utmost importance to anyone who values not only justice and freedom, but sanity. Letting go of the outdated, never-backed-up by anything, pseudo-naturalistic and pseudo-intuitive tall tales that are only kept alive to bring in more profit to the cult of greed is one of the keys to opening one's mind to the freedom of skeptical materialism of true learning and stepping on the path of building an actual humanistic future.