A social psychological perspective on World War II collaboration in the 21st century: A Belgian case

The present study addresses antecedents and consequences of attitudes towards collaboration in the context of World War II (WWII) in Belgium. A survey conducted on 922 Belgian French‐ and Dutch‐speaking participants shows that, on overall, Dutch‐speakers perceive collaboration as more moral and support amnesty of the former collaborators at a higher level than their Francophone counterparts. In addition, we show that these attitudes are predicted by the generational belonging, linguistic and national identification of the participants. Finally, we find that attitudes towards WWII collaboration... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Bouchat, Pierre
Luminet, Olivier
Rosoux, Valérie
Aerts, Koen
Cordonnier, Aline
Résibois, Maxime
Rimé, Bernard
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Verlag/Hrsg.: JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.
Schlagwörter: Social Representations / Memory / World War One
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26495586
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/225669

The present study addresses antecedents and consequences of attitudes towards collaboration in the context of World War II (WWII) in Belgium. A survey conducted on 922 Belgian French‐ and Dutch‐speaking participants shows that, on overall, Dutch‐speakers perceive collaboration as more moral and support amnesty of the former collaborators at a higher level than their Francophone counterparts. In addition, we show that these attitudes are predicted by the generational belonging, linguistic and national identification of the participants. Finally, we find that attitudes towards WWII collaboration are linked to specific political prospects for the future of the country only among Dutch‐speakers. These findings suggest that, 75 years after its end, the issue of collaboration during WWII still divides the Belgian society. Furthermore, they underline the added value of a multilevel approach in the understanding of social psychological phenomena.