black-crab syndrome

The term black-crab syndrome is an allegorical term used towards an individual or group of people who hold others back from progress and try to sabotage their own people (typically socioeconomically); the crabs-in-a-bucket syndrome is a term used to allegorically convey the idea of a person or people(a crab) confined to a similar place or status(typically socioeconomic) being sabotaged and held back from progress and success by other people(fellow crabs). The sabotage in both terms could be employed purposefully or unconsciously and for a number of reasons: jealousy, freeloading, fear of competition, etc. In the crab’s attempt to crawl out of the bucket(their current status), to explore, expand their knowledge, adaptability to other environments, and further increase their general progress in life, they are pulled backward by the other black crabs(people of the same status) or crabs who are lower in the bucket, making this level of advancement impossible. These are allegorical references used mainly by descendants of the African diaspora in reference to their own people holding them back from making progress in life.