On being a victim

It is often useful within the social sciences to rely on personal experiences, or at least take this as our point of departure. So, given the challenge to lecture on the topic “Society and the victim”, I started out with some reflections on my own past history. Had I ever been a victim, and if so, when and how? And I will ask you in this audience to engage in the same exercise. Have you ever been victims? When was that? Where was it? What characterized the situation? How did you react? How did your surroundings react? Maybe I could ask you to scribble down just a few words from your own personal histories as a victim, not for my use, but for your own. Such personal memories might prove valuable during my presentation, and particularly during our later discussions.

My personal conclusion as a result of my reflections came actually as a certain surprise, at least to myself. It turned out that I had great trouble in finding any example at all of having been a victim. The closest to being one was a summer night far back in time. It was in Finland. The night was light as nights are in the North during summer, and in addition it had the soft blue qualities so particular to Finland. A colleague, we were some 20 to 30 criminologists out in the forest, proposed a running competition down to a nearby lake and back again.

I was the only one who accepted. Before I had reached the shore, he was up again to the point of departure. When I came up there, the group had gone home. At that time, I felt like a loser. When I later got to know that the man who proposed the competition was a Swedish champion in running, I redefined my situation into being a victim.

Upon further scrutiny of my personal history I have been able to remember a few cases of stolen bikes, one of someone breaking and entering into my apartment, a child carrier was once stolen, a cottage broken into. But it was not important. It is the blue night in Finland that I do remember.