Editing Scapegoating

{{short description|Practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame}}
{{Hatnote|This article describes scapegoating in the social-psychological sense. For the religious and ritualistic sense of the word, see [[Scapegoat]].}}
[[File:Albrecht Dürer - Man of Sorrows with Hands Bound - WGA7346.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|{{lang|de|[[Man of sorrows|Schmerzensmann]]}} ({{lit|man of sorrows}}), drypoint by [[Albrecht Dürer]] 1512 depicting [[Jesus Christ]]]]
{{Discrimination sidebar|state=collapsed}}

'''Scapegoating''' is 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.

A scapegoat may be an adult, child, sibling, employee, or peer, or it may be an ethnic, political or religious group, or a country. A [[whipping boy]], [[identified patient]], or [[fall guy]] are forms of scapegoat.

Scapegoating has its origins in the [[scapegoat|scapegoat ritual]] of [[Day of atonement|atonement]] described in chapter 16 of the Biblical ''[[Book 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.<ref>[[Bertram Wyatt-Brown|Wyatt-Brown, Bertram]] (2007) (1982) ''Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{isbn|978-0-19-532517-1}}. p.441</ref>

==At the individual level==

A medical definition of scapegoating is:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mondofacto.com/facts/dictionary?scapegoating |title=scapegoating – Definition |publisher=Mondofacto.com |date=1998-12-12 |access-date=2012-03-07 |archive-date=2017-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019203829/http://www.mondofacto.com/facts/dictionary?scapegoating |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Process in which the mechanisms of [[Psychological projection|projection]] or [[Displacement (psychology)|displacement]] are used in focusing feelings of [[aggression]], [[hostility]], [[frustration]], etc., upon another individual or group; the amount of [[blame]] being 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 to [[guilt by association]] and [[stereotyping]].}}

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===
Jungian analyst [[Sylvia Brinton Perera]] situates its mythology of [[Shadow (psychology)|shadow]] and [[Guilt (emotion)|guilt]].<ref>Perera, ''The Scapegoat Complex'' (1986).</ref> Individuals experience it at the [[Jungian archetype|archetypal]] level. As an ancient social process to rid a community of its past evil deeds and reconnect it to the sacred realm, the [[scapegoat]] appeared in a biblical rite,<ref>[[Acharei Mot|Book of ''Leviticus'', Chapter 16]], per the holy day of [[Yom Kippur]].</ref> which involved two goats and the pre-Judaic, [[chthonic]] god [[Azazel]].<ref>Perera (1986), p.17: the Hebrews "later considered Azazel a fallen angel". Perera at p.112 n.28, citing to [[Louis Ginzberg]].</ref> 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.<ref>Perera (1986), p.18 (two quotes re modern secular culture, Azazel's role debased).</ref>

Blame for breaking a perfectionist moral code, for instance, might be measured out by aggressive scapegoaters. Themselves often wounded, the scapegoaters can be sadistic, [[superego]] accusers with brittle [[Persona (psychology)|persona]]s, who have driven their own shadows [[Unconscious mind|underground]] from where such are [[Psychological projection|projected]] onto the victim. The scapegoated victim may then live in a hell of felt unworthiness, retreating from consciousness, burdened by shadow and transpersonal guilt,<ref>Cf. [[C. G. Jung]], "A psychological view of conscience" in his ''Collected Works'' (Princeton: Bollingen 1953–1979), vol. 10, cited by Perera (1986), re pp. 11–12 n.8, 14 n.21, 33 n.45.</ref> and hiding from the pain of self-understanding. [[Psychotherapy|Therapy]] includes modeling self-protective skills for the victim's battered ego, and guidance in the search for inner integrity, to find the victim's own [[voice]].<ref>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).</ref>

===Projection===
{{Main|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."<ref>M.-L. von Franz, in C. G. Jung, ''Man and his Symbols'' (London 1964) p. 181</ref> Swiss psychiatrist [[Carl Jung]] considered 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".<ref>C. G Jung, ''Analytical Psychology'' (London 1976) p. 108</ref>

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

The '''scapegoat theory of intergroup conflict'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> provides an explanation for the correlation between times of relative economic despair and increases in prejudice and violence toward [[Ingroups and outgroups|outgroups]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Poppe|first=Edwin|title=Effects of changes in GNP and perceived group characteristics on national and ethnic stereotypes in central and eastern Europe.|journal=Journal of Applied Social Psychology|year=2001|volume=31|issue=8|pages=1689–1708|doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb02746.x}}</ref> Studies of [[Anti-black racism|anti-black]] violence ([[racist]] violence) in the [[southern United States]] between 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hovland|first1=C. I.|last2=Sears| first2=R. R. |title=Minor studies of aggression: VI. Correlation of lynchings with economic indices|journal=Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied|year=1940|volume=9|issue=2|pages=301–310|doi=10.1080/00223980.1940.9917696}}</ref>

Scapegoating as a group necessitates that [[Ingroups and outgroups|ingroup]] members settle on one specific target to blame for their problems.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1002/9780470773963.ch15|chapter=Choice of Scapegoats|title=On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport|pages=244–261|year=2005|last1=Glick|first1=Peter|isbn=978-0470773963|editor1-link=John Dovidio|editor-last1=Dovidio|editor-first1=John F.|editor-last2=Glick|editor-first2=Peter|editor-last3=Rudman|editor-first3=Laurie|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CDSyHPt98E0C&pg=PA244|publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}</ref>

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 of [[accountability]] in upper management.<ref name="it-scapegoat">[http://www.pmhut.com/the-art-of-scapegoating-in-it-projects The Art of Scapegoating in IT Projects] PM Hut, 15 October 2009</ref>

==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.

==See also==
{{Portal|Psychology|Society}}
{{columns-list|
* {{annotated link|Bullying}}
* {{annotated link|Charivari}}
* {{annotated link|Consciousness of guilt}}
* {{annotated link|Dehumanization}}
* {{annotated link|Divine retribution}}
* {{annotated link|Fall guy}}
* {{annotated link|False accusation}}
* {{annotated link|Frontier justice}}
* {{annotated link|Frustration–aggression hypothesis}}
* {{annotated link|The Golden Bough|''The Golden Bough''}}
* {{annotated link|Identified patient}}
* {{annotated link|Hazing}}
* {{annotated link|Human sacrifice}}
* {{annotated link|Kick the cat}}
* {{annotated link|Kiss up kick down}}
* {{annotated link|Mobbing}}
* {{annotated link|Moral panic}}
* {{annotated link|Presumption of guilt}}
* {{annotated link|Sacrificial lamb}}
* {{annotated link|Shooting the messenger}}
* {{annotated link|Sin-eater}}
* {{annotated link|Smear campaign}}
* {{annotated link|Social stigma}}
* {{annotated link|Stereotype}}
* {{annotated link|Victim blaming}}
* {{annotated link|Victimisation}}
* {{annotated link|Witch-hunt}}
}}

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Further reading'''
::'''Books'''
{{refbegin|}}
* Colman, A.D. ''Up from Scapegoating: Awakening Consciousness in Groups'' (1995)
* Douglas, Tom ''Scapegoats: Transferring Blame'' (1995)
* Dyckman, JM & Cutler JA ''Scapegoats at Work: Taking the Bull's-Eye Off Your Back'' (2003)
* [[René Girard|Girard, René]]: ''[[Violence and the Sacred]]'' (1972)
* Girard, René: ''The Scapegoat'' (1986)
* Jasinski, James: "Sourcebook on Rhetoric" (2001)
* [[Sylvia Brinton Perera|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 V ''Scapegoating in Families: Intergenerational Patterns of Physical and Emotional Abuse'' (1991)
* Quarmby K ''Scapegoat: 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)
{{refend}}

::'''Academic articles'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1093/geront/23.2.136 |pmid=6862222 |title=The Aged as Scapegoat |journal=The Gerontologist |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=136–143 |year=1983 |last1=Binstock |first1=R. H. }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2393450|jstor=2393450|title=Power and Managerial Dismissal: Scapegoating at the Top|journal=Administrative Science Quarterly|volume=37|issue=3|pages=400–421|year=1992|last1=Boeker|first1=Warren}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1177/104649648902000402|title=The Dynamics of Scapegoating in Small Groups|journal=Small Group Research|volume=20|issue=4|pages=406–418|year=1989|last1=Gemmill|first1=G.|s2cid=145569193}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0022-1031(73)80006-X|title=Ambivalence, guilt, and the scapegoating of minority group victims|journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology|volume=9|issue=5|pages=423–436|year=1973|last1=Katz|first1=Irwin|last2=Class|first2=David C.|last3=Cohen|first3=Sheldon}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6261.1995.tb04042.x|title=Managers of Financially Distressed Firms: Villains or Scapegoats?|journal=The Journal of Finance|volume=50|issue=3|pages=919–940|year=1995|last1=Khanna|first1=Naveen|last2=Poulsen|first2=Annette B.}}
* {{cite journal|url=http://www.halifaxexplosion.net/francismackey.pdf|last=Maybee|first=Janet|journal=The Northern Mariner|volume=XX |issue=2|date =2010|pages=149–173|title=The Persecution of Pilot Mackey|doi=10.25071/2561-5467.317 |s2cid=247265901 |issn=1183-112X}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/BF02110269|title=Parents of psychotic children as scapegoats|journal=Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy|volume=4|issue=1|pages=17–22|year=1971|last1=Schopler|first1=Eric|s2cid=44010269}}
* {{cite journal|year=1960|last1=Vogel|first1=E. F.|title=The emotionally disturbed child as the family scapegoat|journal= Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Review|volume=47|issue=2|pages=21–42|last2=Bell|first2=N. W.|url=http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=PSAR.047B.0021A|issn=0885-7830}}
{{refend}}

::'''Reference books'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0817|chapter=Scapegoating|title=The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology|year=2010|last1=Glick|first1=Peter|isbn=978-0470479216|editor1-last=Weiner|editor1-first=Irving B.|editor2-last=Craighead|editor2-first=W. Edward|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|edition=4th|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pUSG1BONmekC&pg=PA1498|pages=1498–1499}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.4135/9781412956253.n465|chapter=Scapegoat Theory|title=Encyclopedia of Social Psychology|year=2007|last1=Hammer|first1=Elliott D.|isbn=978-1412916707|editor-last1=Baumeister |editor-first1=Roy |editor-last2=Vohs |editor-first2=Kathleen|publisher= Sage Publications}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.4135/9781412956253.n155|chapter=Displaced Aggression|title=Encyclopedia of Social Psychology|year=2007|last1=Miller|first1=Norman|last2=Pollock|first2=Vicki|isbn=978-1412916707|editor-last1=Baumeister |editor-first1=Roy |editor-last2=Vohs |editor-first2=Kathleen|publisher= Sage Publications}}
{{refend}}{{Conformity}}

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