Wikipedia

Scapegoating

This article describes scapegoating in the social-psychological sense. For the religious and ritualistic sense of the word, seeScapegoat.

Scapegoatingis the practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and consequent negative treatment. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "he did it, not me!" ), individuals against groups (e.g., "I couldn't see anything because of all the tall people" ), groups against individuals (e.g., "He was the reason our team didn't win" ), and groups against groups.

Schmerzensmann(lit. 'man of sorrows'), drypoint byAlbrecht Dürer1512 depictingJesus Christ

A scapegoat may be an adult, child, sibling, employee, peer, ethnic, political or religious group, or country. Awhipping boy,identified patient,or "fall guy"are forms of scapegoat.

Scapegoating has its origins in thescapegoat ritualofatonementdescribed in chapter 16 of the BiblicalBook of Leviticus,in which a goat (or ass) is released into the wilderness bearing all the sins of the community, which have been placed on the goat's head by a priest.[1]

At the individual level

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A medical definition of scapegoating is:[2]

Process in which the mechanisms ofprojectionordisplacementare used in focusing feelings ofaggression,hostility,frustration,etc., upon another individual or group; the amount ofblamebeing unwarranted. Scapegoating is a hostile tactic often employed to characterize an entire group of individuals according to the unethical or immoral conduct of a small number of individuals belonging to that group. Scapegoating relates toguilt by associationandstereotyping.

Scapegoated groups throughout history have included almost every imaginable group of people: genders, religions, people of different races, nations, or sexual orientations, people with different political beliefs, or people differing in behaviour from the majority. However, scapegoating may also be applied to organizations, such as governments, corporations, or various political groups.

Its archetype

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Jungian analystSylvia Brinton Pererasituates its mythology ofshadowandguilt.[3]Individuals experience it at thearchetypallevel. As an ancient social process to rid a community of its past evil deeds and reconnect it to the sacred realm, thescapegoatappeared in a biblical rite,[4]which involved two goats and the pre-Judaic,chthonicgodAzazel.[5]In the modern scapegoat complex, however, "the energy field has been radically broken apart" and the libido "split off from consciousness". Azazel's role is deformed into an accuser of the scapegoated victim.[6]

Blame for breaking a perfectionist moral code, for instance, might be measured out by aggressive scapegoaters. Themselves often wounded, the scapegoaters can be sadistic,superegoaccusers with brittlepersonas,who have driven their own shadowsundergroundfrom where such areprojectedonto the victim. The scapegoated victim may then live in a hell of felt unworthiness, retreating from consciousness, burdened by shadow and transpersonal guilt,[7]and hiding from the pain of self-understanding.Therapyincludes modeling self-protective skills for the victim's battered ego, and guidance in the search for inner integrity, to find the victim's ownvoice.[8]

Projection

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Main article:Psychological projection

Unwanted thoughts and feelings can be unconsciously projected onto another who becomes a scapegoat for one's own problems. This concept can be extended to projection by groups. In this case the chosen individual, or group, becomes the scapegoat for the group's problems. "Political agitation in all countries is full of such projections, just as much as the backyard gossip of little groups and individuals."[9]Swiss psychiatristCarl Jungconsidered indeed that "there must be some people who behave in the wrong way; they act as scapegoats and objects of interest for the normal ones".[10]

Scapegoat theory of intergroup conflict

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Thescapegoat theory of intergroup conflictprovides an explanation for the correlation between times of relative economic despair and increases in prejudice and violence towardoutgroups.[11]Studies ofanti-blackviolence (racistviolence) in thesouthern United Statesbetween 1882 and 1930 show a correlation between poor economic conditions and outbreaks of violence (e.g. lynchings) against black people. The correlation between the price of cotton (the principal product of the area at that time) and the number of lynchings of black men by whites ranged from −0.63 to −0.72, suggesting that a poor economy induced white people to take out their frustrations by attacking an outgroup.[12]

Scapegoating as a group necessitates thatingroupmembers settle on one specific target to blame for their problems.[13]

In management, scapegoating is a known practice in which a lower staff employee is blamed for the mistakes of senior executives. This is often due to lack ofaccountabilityin upper management.[14]

Scapegoat mechanism

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Literary critic and philosopherKenneth Burkefirst coined and described the expressionscapegoat mechanismin his booksPermanence and Change(1935),[15]andA Grammar of Motives(1945).[16]These works influenced somephilosophical anthropologists,such asErnest BeckerandRené Girard.

Girard developed the concept much more extensively as an interpretation of human culture. In Girard's view, it is humankind, not God, who has need for various forms of atoning violence. Humans are driven by desire for that which another has or wants (mimetic desire). This causes a triangulation of desire and results in conflict between the desiring parties. This mimeticcontagionincreases to a point where society is at risk; it is at this point that thescapegoat mechanism[17]is triggered. This is the point where one person is singled out as the cause of the trouble and is expelled or killed by the group. This person is the scapegoat. Social order is restored as people are contented that they have solved the cause of their problems by removing the scapegoated individual, and the cycle begins again.

Scapegoating serves as a psychological relief for a group of people. Girard contends that this is what happened in the narrative ofJesusof Nazareth, the central figure in Christianity. The difference between the scapegoating of Jesus and others, Girard believes, is that in theresurrection of Jesusfrom the dead, he is shown to be an innocent victim; humanity is thus made aware of its violent tendencies and the cycle is broken. Thus Girard's work is significant as a reconstruction of theChristus Victoratonementtheory.

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^Wyatt-Brown, Bertram(2007) (1982)Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South.New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-532517-1.p.441
  2. ^"scapegoating – Definition".Mondofacto.com. 1998-12-12. Archived fromthe originalon 2017-10-19.Retrieved2012-03-07.
  3. ^Perera,The Scapegoat Complex(1986).
  4. ^Book ofLeviticus,Chapter 16,per the holy day ofYom Kippur.
  5. ^Perera (1986), p.17: the Hebrews "later considered Azazel a fallen angel". Perera at p.112 n.28, citing toLouis Ginzberg.
  6. ^Perera (1986), p.18 (two quotes re modern secular culture, Azazel's role debased).
  7. ^Cf.C. G. Jung,"A psychological view of conscience" in hisCollected Works(Princeton: Bollingen 1953–1979), vol. 10, cited by Perera (1986), re pp. 11–12 n.8, 14 n.21, 33 n.45.
  8. ^Perera (1986): archetype (pp. 9–10, 16, 18, 48–49, 73, 77, 83, 98); ancient rite (pp. 8, 11–25, two goats 16–17, 88–97); modern complex (18–29, 30, 98, quotes at 18); accusers (9, 18–21, blames victim 20, superego 21, 28–29, 30–33, shadow 30, projected 31, also wounded 32, 55); victims (11–12, 15–16, hiding 24, 26–28, hell 26, ego 28, 33, 34–35, 43–72, burden 98); within families (30–33, 35, 53–54, 73, 76, 99); therapy (18, 22, 24–25, 26–29, voice 29, 33, 41–43, 47, 69–72, 86–97).
  9. ^M.-L. von Franz, in C. G. Jung,Man and his Symbols(London 1964) p. 181
  10. ^C. G Jung,Analytical Psychology(London 1976) p. 108
  11. ^Poppe, Edwin (2001). "Effects of changes in GNP and perceived group characteristics on national and ethnic stereotypes in central and eastern Europe".Journal of Applied Social Psychology.31(8): 1689–1708.doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb02746.x.
  12. ^Hovland, C. I.; Sears, R. R. (1940). "Minor studies of aggression: VI. Correlation of lynchings with economic indices".Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied.9(2): 301–310.doi:10.1080/00223980.1940.9917696.
  13. ^Glick, Peter (2005)."Choice of Scapegoats".InDovidio, John F.;Glick, Peter; Rudman, Laurie (eds.).On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport.Blackwell Publishing. pp. 244–261.doi:10.1002/9780470773963.ch15.ISBN978-0470773963.
  14. ^The Art of Scapegoating in IT ProjectsPM Hut, 15 October 2009
  15. ^"Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose – 1935 by Kenneth Burke. 99056219".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-05-30.
  16. ^"A Grammar of Motives – 1945, Page iii by Kenneth Burke".
  17. ^Mimesis – The Scapegoat Model,Jean-Baptiste Dumont

Further reading

Books
  • Colman, A.D.Up from Scapegoating: Awakening Consciousness in Groups(1995)
  • Douglas, TomScapegoats: Transferring Blame(1995)
  • Dyckman, JM & Cutler JAScapegoats at Work: Taking the Bull's-Eye Off Your Back(2003)
  • Girard, René:Violence and the Sacred(1972)
  • Girard, René:The Scapegoat(1986)
  • Jasinski, James: "Sourcebook on Rhetoric" (2001)
  • Perera, Sylvia Brinton,The Scapegoat Complex: Toward a Mythology of Shadow and Guilt(Toronto: Inner City 1986), Studies in Jungian Psychology By Jungian Analysts
  • Pillari VScapegoating in Families: Intergenerational Patterns of Physical and Emotional Abuse(1991)
  • Quarmby KScapegoat: Why We Are Failing Disabled People(2011)
  • Wilcox C.W.Scapegoat: Targeted for Blame(2009)
  • Zemel, Joel:Scapegoat, the extraordinary legal proceedings following the 1917 Halifax Explosion(2012)
Academic articles
Reference books
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