The Victimhood Economy: Monetizing Oppression in the Age of Identity How some professionals and organizations benefit from a perpetual victim narrative and what it’s costing everyone else.
Introduction
We live in an age where visibility, voice, and advocacy have never been more accessible. Social media, corporate DEI policies, and grassroots movements have empowered millions to speak up against systemic injustices. These conversations have led to tangible progress: increased representation, reforms in hiring practices, and greater cultural awareness.
Yet, amid the genuine fight for equity, a new phenomenon has emerged; I call it VICTIMHOOD ECONOMY. It is a landscape where identity-based grievances can be commodified, outrage is monetized, and a perpetual narrative of oppression is strategically used for personal, professional, or political gain.
In 2019, actor Jussie Smollett claimed to be the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime in Chicago. He received an outpouring of support from celebrities, politicians, and the public. However, it was later revealed through a police investigation that the attack was staged.
When individuals or groups repeatedly frame themselves as perpetual victims often to gain sympathy, avoid accountability, or manipulate perceptions despite having the agency or support to change their circumstances. It’s a subtle yet potent form of emotional manipulation that can disrupt team dynamics and organizational progress.
Today, we will unpack how some professionals and organizations benefit from a continuous victim narrative—and what it’s silently costing teams, trust, innovation, and society at large.
1. Victimhood as Currency in Corporate Clout
In today’s workplace, being seen as oppressed can confer moral authority. Individuals who claim marginalization, whether valid or exaggerated, often become untouchable, immune to critique, and elevated in company influence.
There was the case of a mid-level employee in a media firm who frequently cited micro-aggressions and systemic bias to shut down performance feedback. The company, fearing backlash, reassigned their manager instead of addressing the real issues – missed deadlines and disruptive behavior.
History provides us with the responsible use of advocacy. The Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1950s emphasized resilience, collective progress, and character-driven advocacy. Today’s misuse of victimhood often pivots toward personal leverage rather than collective upliftment.
When we allow victimhood to thrive, merit is sidelined, and psychological safety diminishes as colleagues fear honest dialogue in our organizations.
2. The Monetization of Oppression on Social Media
Influencers and self-proclaimed activists now build entire platforms around their identity struggles. While some stories are authentic, others are curated to generate outrage, sympathy, and monetized attention.
A 2023 Pew Research study revealed that identity-based activism accounts for over 60% of viral Twitter (X) content among Gen Z audiences.
There was an instance where an online personality garnered a six-figure brand deal after a viral post about workplace discrimination. Weeks later, former colleagues shared that the incident had been grossly misrepresented.
When we allow victimhood to thrive, authentic stories are drowned in performative ones. Trust in real advocacy erodes.
3. Weaponizing DEI to Avoid Accountability
DEI programs are designed to foster fairness. But in some companies, individuals misuse DEI language to deflect from underperformance or poor behavior.
In a Coaching Session, I observed how a client (whose was rated as underperforming team leader) repeatedly used “emotional safety” claims to avoid disciplinary action. When her colleagues expressed concern, rather than deal with the issue of accountability, they were labeled “insensitive” or “tone-deaf” by the organization.
When we allow victimhood to thrive, DEI becomes diluted. It shifts from a tool of empowerment to a tool of manipulation.
4. Creating Identity-Based Gatekeeping
In the victimhood economy, certain individuals take it upon themselves to police who is “allowed” to speak on specific topics.
I once dealt with a situation where a white male executive was removed from leading a gender equity initiative because “his voice didn’t count,” despite being a longtime ally with tangible results.
When we allow victimhood to thrive, collaboration shrinks and dialogue becomes divisive.
If we are truly invested in driving an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must remember that Identity should invite more voices to the table, not fewer.
5. The Rise of the Oppression Olympics
A subtle competition now exists in some circles: who has suffered more? This hierarchy of hurt turns shared struggles into comparative battles.
During a leadership retreat I facilitated, team members began “ranking” whose communities faced more historic oppression. The focus shifted from strategic planning to identity sparring on socioeconomic status, tribe, gender and religion
If we truly want to mainstream an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must remember that no one is receiving a trophy suffering. We must confront issues head on. Else, empathy will be replaced with one-upmanship and it will halt the progress of our orgnizations.
6. Tokenism as a Career Growth Strategy
Some professionals intentionally position themselves as tokens benefiting from organizational guilt or performative inclusion.
An organization once engaged us to provide a team bonding intervention as collaboration and mid-year performance has significantly declined. We discovered that 3 months before they engaged us, a newly hired executive was showcased in every internal campaign due to their background, despite their minimal contributions. This act made colleagues to become resentful, collaboration declined and they felt their contribution to the organization doesn’t matter as they’ve not enjoyed such exposure despite their year of excellent performance.
When we allow victimhood to thrive, trust in diversity efforts erodes and teams will lose cohesion.
If we want to sustain an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must all remember that affirmative action was meant to remove barriers—not replace qualifications.
7. Victimhood as a Branding Tool
Modern personal brands often lead with struggle. While storytelling is powerful, over-reliance on trauma narratives becomes exploitative.
For example, a mid-level manager who frequently reminds colleagues and leadership that they are consistently overlooked for promotions due to favoritism or systemic bias; even when feedback and objective performance reviews suggest areas for improvement.
When we allow victimhood to thrive, talent takes a back seat and theatrics takes the main stage.
If we want to sustain an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must all remember that storytelling should inspire – not manipulate.
8. Fear-Based Compliance in Leadership
Executives now face internal pressure to agree with every identity-based complaint, regardless of validity.
There was the story of a CEO who avoided addressing misconduct by a diversity team member out of fear it would be perceived as discriminatory. Because bad attitude spreads faster than good attitude, other team members adopted the misconduct and this led to frequent operations downtime and eventual customer attrition. Consequently, the CEO lost his job and the company downsized by 50%.
A Deloitte survey (2022) found that 39% of managers admit to “soft-pedaling feedback” to minority employees to avoid conflict.
An inclusive culture of peak performance doesn’t promote victimhood. When we allow victimhood to thrive, poor performers stay protected and standards suffer.
When individuals or groups repeatedly frame themselves as perpetual victims often to gain sympathy, avoid accountability, or manipulate perceptions despite having the agency or support to change their circumstances. It’s a subtle yet potent form of emotional manipulation that can disrupt team dynamics and organizational progress. – Dr. Abiola Salami, Worldclass Performance Strategist
9. Hijacking Safe Spaces
Safe spaces were designed for healing and honest discussion. Today, some use them to entrench ideology and silence opposing views.
A company hosted a “healing circle” after restructuring. When an employee shared concern about job security, they were told their input “wasn’t the point of the space.”
When we allow victimhood to thrive, morale drops and inclusion becomes theatrical.
We must remember that safety does not mean silencing. An inclusive culture of peak performance welcomes diverse fears, not just prescribed feelings.
10. The Poverty Trap of Non-Profit Narratives
Many social impact organizations rely on stories of poverty, trauma, or injustice to secure funding. This incentivizes a cycle of perpetual struggle.
There was a case of a non-profit helping at-risk youth was criticized by beneficiaries for continuing to depict them as helpless, even after success.
The new narrative economy reverses this where the people these organizations claim to serve become characters in a story that’s no longer theirs.
Charity models in the 20th century evolved to emphasize dignity, not pity. This is what we must also emphasize.
11. False Equivalence of Discomfort with Oppression
In victimhood culture, every discomfort is treated as a violation.
A manager asked a team member to switch projects due to scheduling. The employee filed an internal complaint claiming “emotional labor overload.”
When we allow victimhood to thrive, real issues are overshadowed by exaggerated ones.
If we want to grow a team of firm and empathic leaders, we must remember that discomfort is part of growth and not every challenge is oppression.
12. Victimhood Metrics in Performance Reviews
Some HR departments subtly reward identity-based narratives over actual impact.
An internal review praised an employee’s “courageous voice” for regularly challenging leadership, despite their work KPIs being the lowest.
When we insentivize victimhood, high performers become demoralized and qquity becomes imbalance.
If we want to promote an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must remember that speaking up is valuable—but not a substitute for performance.
13. Internal Cancel Culture
Some team members weaponize DEI language to cancel or isolate colleagues who disagree with them.
After a team lead posted a quote from a historical figure viewed as “problematic,” they were reported, isolated, and removed from leadership without conversation.
When victimhood taints our perception, we automatically encourage censorship to replace conversation and fear replaces feedback.
If we want to drive an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must remember that advocacy thrives on context, not purity tests.
14. Exaggeration of Trauma for Leverage
In some cases, professionals exaggerate personal trauma as a means of gaining sympathy, preference, influence, avoiding accountability, manipulating organizational dynamics or workplace immunity.
While it’s important to honor genuine hardship, the line is crossed when emotional narratives are inflated to excuse poor performance, resist feedback, or secure preferential treatment.
For example, an employee who faced early challenges with a difficult manager may continually cite that experience months or even years later to avoid taking on high-pressure tasks, claiming emotional distress whenever expectations rise. This not only places undue strain on colleagues who must compensate but also creates a culture where emotional leverage outweighs merit, ultimately undermining trust, fairness, and team resilience. Hence, authentic victims are overshadowed. Manipulation breeds mistrust.
If we want to drive an inclusive culture of peak performance, we must remember that vulnerability should be respected, not staged.
15. Crises as Content
Crises now double as personal branding moments, where adversity is packaged, branded, and broadcasted for public engagement. Rather than processing challenges privately or within appropriate organizational channels, people often turn to social media to narrate their pain, not just for awareness but for attention, validation, and influence. The line between genuine advocacy and opportunistic storytelling blurs, as personal grievances are positioned as moral high ground. This trend rewards emotional spectacle over thoughtful reflection, creating an ecosystem where the loudest, most emotionally charged voice dominates, regardless of the full context.
A striking example is the case of an employee who, after being laid off, posted a viral social media thread framing the event as an act of systemic oppression and corporate injustice. The post gained immediate traction, drawing sympathy, media coverage, and eventually leading to paid speaking engagements.
However, insiders later clarified that the layoff was part of a transparent, company-wide restructuring that affected dozens of staff members across demographics and departments. Yet, the curated narrative of victimization had already taken root in the public domain—reshaping perceptions, boosting the individual’s platform, and making nuance a casualty of virality.
The cost of turning crises into content is profound: outrage eclipses nuance, and grievance becomes gold. In such a climate, objective facts are quickly buried beneath emotionally compelling stories, and public sympathy is monetized while organizational trust erodes. For companies, this trend creates a chilling effect—where standard business decisions can be weaponized into reputational threats. For individuals, it raises ethical questions about the long-term implications of branding oneself through curated suffering. When every challenge becomes a potential “moment,” authenticity risks being replaced by performance, and resilience by reward-seeking narratives.
Conclusion: From Victimhood to Value
Victimhood, when rooted in truth, deserves visibility. But when monetized, exaggerated, or manipulated, it morphs into a culture of entitlement, fragility, and performance. It costs real victims their credibility. It costs organizations their clarity. And it costs society its sense of shared responsibility.
The solution isn’t to silence voices but to elevate integrity. Let’s move from identity economics to value economics. From performative pain to principled leadership.
Because in the end, resilience not resentment is what changes the world.
Next Steps
If you need help rebalancing advocacy with accountability in your culture or you want to train your team on how to lead with empathy and excellence, contact us on +2347026668008 or hello@abiolachamp.com
Let’s break the cycle of victimhood capitalism—and rebuild with clarity, courage, and character.
About Dr. Abiola Salami
Dr. Abiola Salami is the Convener of Dr Abiola Salami International Leadership Bootcamp ; The Peak PerformerTM Festival Made4More Accelerator Program and The New Year Kickoff Summit. He is the Principal Performance Strategist at CHAMP – a full scale professional services firm trusted by high performing business leaders for providing Executive Coaching, Workforce Development & Advisory Services to improve performance. You can reach his team on hello@abiolachamp.com and connect with him @abiolachamp on all social media platforms.
