Claiming victimhood as a response in discussions about privilege and advantaged group identity

Privileged groups are those with greater access to power or resources in society but they may experience a moral identity threat in contemporary social contexts. One strategy to avoid this is to claim victimhood status for one’s group to accompany or rival other groups. However, this must be managed carefully to avoid rebuttals. Drawing on discursive psychology and victimhood research, six interviews between a Black, female researcher and White males are analysed to show how speakers draw on strategic forms of victimhood discourse to negotiate the dilemma of privilege: competitive, digressive and inclusive. Speakers strategically use vagueness and specificity to construct accounts of victimhood that pre-empt rebuttals. This shows how victimhood discourse is constructed and mobilised in intergroup conversations about privilege and highlights the need for future research on how victimhood discourse can be responded to.