Causes of Scapegoating

Where does it all start?

Return Home

Critical Essay: Feminism

Have you ever blamed someone else for your problems?  From guilty five year olds who point fingers and say, “He did it,” to adults blaming the government or the media for problems in their lives, we have shifted blame from ourselves to others.  We have all used a scapegoat, whether it is an individual, a group of people, or an institution, in order to deny personal responsibility and take the load off our shoulders.  Scapegoating is a result of a changing society that no longer values personal responsibility, and because there are no consequences for those who refuse to take responsibility for their actions, the shifted blame goes unnoticed and unchallenged. 

Rene Girard states in his scapegoat theory, that members of a society, in times of chaos and disorder, where a threat exists, will find an individual or group to blame for all the problems that exist for that society (1).  They project all their dissentions onto the particular individual or group that has been made into a scapegoat, which is then eliminated through death, expulsion, or some other kind of method.  Once a community rids itself of the scapegoat, peace prevails and order is restored to the community (1).  Society is relieved form all their problems and the community is united by the common aim and enemy (1).  Through out all of history societies have used scapegoating as a social mechanism or solution for a particular problem or catastrophe.  Germany blamed the Jews for their economics problems, the Puritans hunted witches down in order to rid society of human sinfulness, heretics have been excommunicated so that the church could blame them for dissention within the church, and the list goes on and on.     

"A scapegoat is almost as good as a solution." -Anonymous (1)

Myth:  Scapegoating Is Necessary

 The problem with the view that scapegoating is a necessary social mechanism, that has been in practice throughout all of history so that communities may regenerate order in the face of dissention and chaos, is that it tells people that in order to deal with violence one must use violence, that violent means are the way to maintain order.  "Scapegoating is supported by underlying myths which the society holds about itself and the world it lives in," states Dan Hoffman (2).  No rational sense or truth is needed in order to scapegoat another, but rather it is based on the perceptions of how society, or an individual, sees itself.  "The scapegoating dynamic does not respond to the truth or facts," Hoffman further notes (2).  Societies everywhere use scapegoating as a way to create stability when chaos is reigning in their community.  What they never stop to consider is the negative affects it has on the individual or group being scapegoated; in order to promote the common good sacrifices are inevitable. This is the thinking of those who promote scapegoating (3).

            It is easy to see why people find it so easy to blame others for the problems in their lives.  No one wants to admit that they were wrong or that they have harmed others.  No one likes being the bad guy.  Every single person has the power to choose, “What can I do in this situation?”  We are each masters of our own fates.  Yes, it is true that we cannot control everything around us; such as what family we are born into, what the weather will be like on any given day, or the choices that those around us make.  The only thing we do have control over is our own choices in response to our circumstances.  With the power to choose, as wonderful as it is, also comes the responsibility of accepting the consequences of our choices, good or bad.  Yet, too many people today see themselves as victims of their circumstances.  Society, instead of empowering people to believe that they are responsible for their lives and have the ability to make a difference, teaches us that no one is at fault and we are all victims of our past, circumstances, or an institution.  Yet, the reality of the situation is that we are only victims of our circumstances or past because we choose to see ourselves as victims.  If one is poor, one could choose to sell drugs in order to make some fast cash or steal what one wants or needs.  Or, one could choose to stay in school, ask for help when it is needed, and better one's situation by making choices that have positive consequences for the individual himself, and society as a whole.

                 "Management always needs a scapegoat for their own incompetence." -W. Edwards Deming (1)

 Genetic and Environmental Factors

            No one can deny the fact that certain environmental and genetic factors can play a role in the circumstances that individuals face and that some people have it tougher than others.  People who live in poverty are more likely to commit a crime than opposed to those of the middle and upper classes (4).  Statistics on this matter vary, and the reasons behind this trend are different depending on who you listen to, but one thing is still very evident:  blaming your situation in life for your behaviors will not help you to succeed in this world, and will not change your situation either.  Those who are related to persons who are alcoholics are more likely to become alcoholics themselves (5), but just because one is more likely to be an alcoholic, due to genetics, does not mean that one has to become one.  We make choices, in life, in response to our surroundings, including genes and environmental factors, but in the end it is the individual who must be held responsible for the consequences of their actions. No one and nothing else can bear that responsibility, for we have the ultimate power of choice.

            This ideology of victimization leads to the conviction that the government, the media, institutional organizations, and anyone else that can be scapegoated for our own personal failures are to be blamed.  If we are unable to accept responsibility for our failures, how can we acknowledge our triumphs as stemming from our own personal actions?  For if we our not liable for the consequences of our actions, that includes consequences bad and good alike.  The ideology of victimization asserts that a person is not accountable for their actions and therefore, should not have to suffer the reprimanding for their behavior.  If we cannot be reprimanded for our bad behaviors, then why should we be able to reap the benefits of our successful choices in life? 

Accountability 

             People believe that they can do anything they please, and not be held liable for the resulting outcome of their choices, for no one holds others accountable anymore.  Just look at how many prisoners or let off or paroled.  The Bureau of Justice Statistics released a document in 2002 that illustrated that “seventy of all released prisoners will be arrested within three years, and only forty-two percent completed their parole terms without reoffending” (4).  Another document released in 2003 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that most prisoners, whether they were drug violators or perpetrators of violent crimes, did not carry out their full sentence (4).  These perpetrators of crimes realize that they are able to get off easier if they play the victim card themselves, and so prison sentences are shortened and prisoners are released back into society with no sense of the consequences of their actions, and that they should be held accountable for them. 

School children go unpunished for misbehavior because teachers and school boards are afraid of lawsuits from parents who do not believe that their children should be held accountable.  The National Center for Educational Statistics surveyed schools in the academic year 1996-1997; “57 percent reported at least one crime to police.”  These crimes include gangs, violence, and drugs, but fail to include plain disorder, incivility, and disobedience (6).  It is believed that only a minority of schools are entirely crime free (6).  Why? 

"They're terrified of lawsuits." -A parent in Haddonfield, New Jersey (6)

            James Q. Wilson’s “broken windows” thesis proposes:  “Ignore the small stuff, and serious crime gets a green light (6).”  About 58 percent of secondary-school teachers said that they had been verbally abused at some point in their teaching career (6).  The reason behind these teachers allowing their students to get away with this kind of behavior is that they no longer have the authority that they used to.  In past years teachers were viewed as the students’ make-shift parents from the time that they entered the school doors till the time that they left to return home.  This allowed the teachers to have an authoritarian role over their students and to discipline them as they needed to be.  Now, with all the lawsuits that occur everyday, teachers have lost their position of authority and students have gained power.  If a simple thing like verbal abuse towards a teacher and fellow students is allowed in schools, then more serious crimes will follow.  Students are testing the waters to see what they can get away with, and instead of punishing them, teachers allow them to continue along this line of misbehaving until someone gets seriously hurt because they are afraid that parents will sue them for reprimanding their child. 

       Society, today, values power, which leads to individuals only looking out for number one, and looking to gain power for themselves and themselves alone.  This leaves little time for caring about what others do and how their actions affect others.  If people do not bother to hold one another accountable for their actions, people will continue to shift blame to one another in order to gain power, and raise their own status.  It is easier to rise to the top if you are not loaded down by the consequences of your choices in life. 

 Unity          

        Too much emphasis is placed on the differences between people.  The common threads that we all share should be recognized and celebrated, instead of always pointing out the differences, and how we are all unique individuals.  An emphasis on individuality leads to a loss in unity and working together in order to reach a common goal.  By concentrating on the differences we learn to make comparisons, and finally to rank these differences:  who is good, better, and best.  If it is considered better to stand out than to be seen as a group, as a whole unit, then people will strive to be seen as number one, and achieve this end through any means possible.  This includes blaming others for one’s failures in order to be seen as the best.  Also, if one develops a superior attitude towards others, they will find it easier to place unfounded blame on them because the superior party is obviously never at fault.  Focusing on our differences can also lead to hate, for people fear what they do not understand, and fear is turned into hatred.  Those that we hate are always easy targets for scapegoating (and vise versa).

               Understandably, we do not desire everyone to be the exact same like robots.  What makes us different allows the group to function better as a unit, bringing different attributes and perspectives to the community.  However, the emphasis should be on how our special gifts and attributes can help and be shared with one another.  Not on how our gifts and attributes can add to our own personal glory.    

We Make the Difference 

           Even though no one wants to take responsibility for the problems that our culture faces, the problems still exist.  Therefore, if we refuse to blame ourselves, there has to be someone to blame.  So, the blame gets shifted from person to person, group to group, organization to organization, and so forth, until it becomes an endless circle where no one can find the beginning any longer.  An us versus them dichotomy is established, with no one willing to own up to their part in the blame.  The problem never gets solved because everyone is too busy blaming everybody else.

            Each of us is liable for the affect that our choices have on each other, no one else but us can determine the shape of our future.  When we turn to others to accept the blame for what we have done, we create scapegoats, and no one wants to be a scapegoat.  Society is not some unreachable, untouchable organization that cannot be changed.  We are society.  People make up the government, and one person can make a difference.  If there is something about government policies or institutions that you would like to see reformed than do something.  Write letters to your state and federal congressmen, circulate petitions in your neighborhood and community, participate in rallies and protests for causes you support, and form a well informed argument for your causes and opinions.  Instead of blaming everyone and everything else for the things in your life, do something yourself to change them.

“So, understanding learning provides insight into much of human behavior because so much of human behavior is learned.”- Edward P. Kardas (7)

           Society is teaching us that a victimization mentality is acceptable, instead of personal responsibility.  We are society.  We are teaching this to our children, to our future.  Children hear adults when they complain about the government and others, and how they are to blame for the problems of society.  Children see adults sit back and do nothing about the things that they do not like about their lives.  Children hear and see everything that we do, and they follow our lead (7).  The result is that blame is shifted from person to person, unfairly and unduly, and we remain powerless to shape the course of our lives.  If we want society to change, we have to be willing to be accountable for the consequences of our choices, and then make the change.  We are society. 

Click to read more about the ideology of victimization and the effects on the feminist movement.

REFERENCES:

1. Neptunia.  "Scapegoating~The Tragedy of Victimization."  Anyara-aphorisms~Scapegoating Essays. 2003. 1 December 2004.   <http://koti.mnet.fi/neptunia/essays/sgintro1.htm>.

3. Pourgouris, Marinos.  "Theorizing Mythology."  2004.  1 December 2004.  <http://cgjungpage.org/content/view/365/28/>.

4. Hagan.  "Poverty and Crime."  Crime Poverty Statistics. US Census Bureau.  2 December 2004.  <http://unm.edu/~timsoc/Assign1Example1.hrm>.

5. "The Genetics of Alcoholism."  Adoption Library.  July 2003.  National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.  2 December 2004.  <http://library.adoption.com/Alcoholism/The-Genetics-of-Alcoholism/article/4438/1.html>.

6. Thernstrom, Abigail.  "Courting disorder in the schools- lawsuits against schools."  Looksmart.  Summer 1999  National Center for Educational Statistics.  4 December 2004.  <http://www.argusleader.com>.

7. Kardas, Edward P.  "Learned vs. Unlearned."  General Psychology.  6 July 2004.  Southern Arkansas University.  4 December 2004.  <http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/GPWeiten/defaults.html>.

Source of Graphic: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0703/pipes_2003_07_01.php3

Article written by Mary Phillips.  Last edited December 9, 2004

Home  -  Causes  -  Effects  -  Prevention  -  Bibliography