Editing Scapegoating (section)

==Scapegoat mechanism<!--'Scapegoat theory of intergroup conflict' redirects here-->==

Literary critic and philosopher [[Kenneth Burke]] first coined and described the expression '''scapegoat mechanism'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> in his books ''Permanence and Change'' (1935),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99056219|title=Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose – 1935 by Kenneth Burke. 99056219|website=|access-date=|archive-date=2012-05-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530224726/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99056219|url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''A Grammar of Motives'' (1945).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=72433755|title=A Grammar of Motives – 1945, Page iii by Kenneth Burke.|website=|access-date=}}</ref> These works influenced some [[philosophical anthropology|philosophical anthropologists]], such as [[Ernest Becker]] and [[René 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 mimetic ''contagion'' increases to a point where society is at risk; it is at this point that the ''scapegoat mechanism''<ref>[http://dumont.typepad.com/publications/Mimesis_Jean-Baptiste_Dumont.pdf Mimesis – The Scapegoat Model], Jean-Baptiste Dumont</ref> 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 of [[Jesus]] of Nazareth, the central figure in Christianity. The difference between the scapegoating of Jesus and others, Girard believes, is that in the [[resurrection of Jesus]] from 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 the ''[[Christus Victor]]'' [[Atonement in Christianity|atonement]] theory.