Scapegoat Mechanism Research Articles

Meaning of Mystery as Process of Deification

“Mystery” is a term with divergent meanings in the religious and secular worlds. This term bears history in the philosophical and theological worlds. The meaning of the term includes concepts of secrecy, mysteriousness, incomprehensibility, and transcendence on the one hand and its connection with religious rituals on the other hand. This nature of the term recommends that we re-read its original meaning. This article tries to understand the connection of this term with archaic religious rituals based on mimetic theory. This article finds that the mysteriousness behind the archaic religious rituals is related to the scapegoat mechanism. The hidden process of deification in primitive religions and cultures is the reason behind the meaning of the term mystery. Using mimetic theory as a tool, this article asserts that only "revealed mysteries" remain in human history following the Christ-event and defines mystery as a process of deification.

Resurrecting Tradition

This paper reviews Kelly Brown Douglas’s Resurrecting Hope and brings it into conversation with certain themes in Catholic theology and with the theory of the scapegoat mechanism articulated by the French intellectual, René Girard.

A Girardian Genre: The Scapegoat Mechanism in Detective Fiction

In this essay I offer an alternative to the rationalist-scientific distillation of detective fiction by using René Girard’s ideas on the scapegoat mechanism. I explain how the genre is teleologically oriented towards the identification and expulsion of the scapegoat, whom the community believes to be truly guilty and whose removal is regarded as necessary to the restoration of communal peace. The detective here functions as a modern high priest who uses reason and science not as an end in itself but as a means to select a fitting scapegoat, one whose guilt is empirically demonstrable. Next, I use Girard’s remarks on society’s growing sensitivity to various forms of victimization to explain detective fiction’s movement towards more liberal views on crime. The genre has often been criticized for its conservative assumption that crime is rooted in personal moral agency; now, there is a preponderance of detective stories that portray crime as a necessary reaction to unjust social systems, or as mitigated by a psychological condition. In illustrating this section, I present a close reading of F. H. Batacan’s Smaller and Smaller Circles, a Philippine detective novel that features a serial killer who was also a victim of social injustice. In conclusion, I look at how the readers of the genre vicariously enact the scapegoat mechanism. I argue that while it is commendable for society to move towards a more nuanced and compassionate view of criminality, given the ever-present urge to engage in scapegoating in the real world, it is crucial to retain a means by which we could sublimate this urge: through ritual that is the reading of detective fiction.

Blessed priest Jerzy Popiełuszko as a personal model in upbringing towards the virtue of courage

The work focuses on personal models in upbringing towards the virtue of courage. The purpose of the research is answering to the following question: How can we use the blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko’s example in upbringing towards the virtue of courage? The author uses the history-pedagogy biographical method. The life and activity of this martyr, cruelly murdered by the communist secret services, is duly analysed. During his whole life, Jerzy Popiełuszko demonstrated determination to follow Jesus Christ in everything, including accepting a cruel death, while at the same time gracing his oppressors with love. The author concentrates particularly on this period of his life in which he was stationed in a military unit known for its strict discipline, in Bartoszyce (1965-1967). It was then, at the age of just 19, that he already proved to be the sole embodiment of courage. The applied criteria for the virtue of such courage have been proposed by Jacek Woroniecki – a Dominican monk, philosopher, pedagogue, and one of the brightest Thomists of his time.
 The result of the research are guidelines how to ensure an upbringing which guarantees the virtue of courage. The process should concentrate on the will to surmount fear in the face of danger; patience; compassion for the suffering of others; distance from both cowardice as well as insolence. The work shows that Popiełuszko perfectly fulfills Woroniecki’s criteria for courage from the Christian perspective, The author put particular emphasis on analysing the ‘scapegoat mechanism’ used by the communist secret services to torture chosen persons. The behaviour of the blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko can be an example and inspiration how to shape the virtue of courage. Jacek Woroniecki’s concept may be used to select the next courageous personal models.

Moderate Attitudes Towards Sex, Marriage, and LGBT in Indonesia: A Study of the Concept of Ipulaksanai and Its Implications for Sexuality, Marriage, and LGBT Norms Among Maanyan Dayak Communities in Indonesia

The purpose of this research is to highlight the open and accepting attitude towards love, life, sexuality, and LGBT issues in the Maanyan Dayak tribe in Indonesia. They have a unique concept of "ipulaksanai," which emphasizes the interconnectedness of all human beings and a moderate and accepting view towards these topics. This serves as an inspiration for others in Indonesia facing a shift towards increasing conservatism, especially regarding sexual morals, to show more respect and respect for diverse attitudes towards love, life, sexuality, marriage, and LGBT issues. The Maanyan concept of "ipulaksanai" holds a similar view with the Indonesia philosophy of Unity in Diversity, different but one. This article is based on qualitative research conducted in 2019 with 14 informants, including traditional Dayak Maanyan figures, Kaharingan ritual leaders, Christian religious leaders, and representatives of the Maanyan community. The tribe believes in anti-violence and reconciliation and has a scapegoat mechanism in place to deal with sexual moral violations. The article shows how the tribe values democratic space regarding amorous and sexual initiatives and encourages people to ease the burden of shame.

Концепция «волн» в контексте истории русского неоязычества: опыт классификации

The article proposes a view of the history of Russian neopaganism as a gradual emergence and coexistence of three waves of movement. Each of them has its own characteristics in ideology and political, activist and religious practice. The first wave of neopaganism was represented by such publicists as A. M. Ivanov, V. N. Emelyanov and A. A. Dobrovolsky and laid the foundations of the worldview, as well as formulated the major claims against Christianity and Judaism. These claims, formulated in the form of anti-Semitic and anti-Christian conspiracy narrative, considered by the author as an element of the “scapegoat mechanism” described by the anthropologist R. Girard. Two other fundamental elements of the worldview were ethnic primordialism and esoteric religiosity. The second wave was represented by the leaders of religious groups and popular writers such as I. G. Cherkasov, N. N. Speransky, L. R. Prozorov, A. Yu. Khinevich and focused on the “invention of tradition” (in the terminology of the historian E. Hobsbawm). Within this wave, two trends can be distinguished — traditionalist and modernist. The trends differ from each other in their approach to the invention of tradition. The third wave was associated with youth right-wing extremism and originated among former neo-Nazi skinheads, such as members of the Combat Terrorist Organization D. A. Borovikov and A. M. Voevodin. Ideologically, it had continuity from the first wave, but was more radical in practice. Representatives of this wave tended to be critical of their own nation, which does not follow the young right-wing radicals in their uprising against the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG).

To Avoid a Scapegoat Mechanism. Perception of COVID-19 Vaccination among Inhabitants of EU – a Study Based on the Reports of the Eurobarometer

Focusing the anger of the community on a single individual the scapegoat makes it possible to stabilise it on new terms and to emerge from the chaos into which it falls in the pandemic. Instead of scapegoating, the focus should be on solving the problem itself with, for example, mass vaccination against Covid-19. The media play a vital role in promoting appropriate attitudes and behaviour during the pandemic.
 The aim of the article is an analysis primarily aimed at demonstrating the relationship between fears (health, social and economical) and assessments of COVID-19 vaccination and media information, based on research of the Eurobarometer, carried out in all member countries of the EU in the period from the 20th of March 2020 to the 30th of June 2021. Three hypotheses were tested regarding EU inhabitants' assessments and fears of vaccination and the media information that differentiates between vaccination enthusiasts, realists and sceptics. Applied were a quantitative analysis of the content of reports, a qualitative analysis of the contents, comparative and analytical descriptive methods.

COVID-19 PANDEMİSİNDE GÜNAH KEÇİSİ MEKANİZMASININ KURBANLARI OLARAK GÖÇMENLER

In the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategy of constructing the disease as a threat caused by foreigners, and attempts to put the blame on the "other" went hand in hand with the outbreak. The accusatory index fingers were mostly aimed at immigrants. The xenophobic rhetoric that immigrants are potential carriers of the virus and pose a deadly health threat has become a central theme for populist politicians advocating curbing immigration. Under the pretext of containing the spread of the virus, some governments have instrumentalized the pandemic to justify strict immigration policies towards immigrants. This article attempts to provide a theoretical explanation of the tendency to scapegoat immigrants in crises. In addition, the news reports from reliable media organizations and the publications prepared by international organizations are examined and the practices of blaming immigrants for COVID-19 are evaluated. The study reveals that some politicians scapegoated immigrants by instrumentalizing COVID-19 to legitimize anti-immigration and these politicians, who were determined to have populist nationalist tendencies, used metaphors such as war, enemy, invasion in their discourses in order to construct the outbreak as an external threat. The study also displays that the tendency to blame immigrants is based on historical and cultural prejudices and that the infodemic is one of the most important factors that ignite the scapegoat mechanism

“Overcoming the Scapegoat Mechanism in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.”

“Overcoming the Scapegoat Mechanism in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.”

Blame work and the scapegoating mechanism in market status-quo

This study explores the tenacity of the plastics market and reveals blame work to explain market status quo. Anti-plastic advocates accuse corporations and regulators of inefficient measures deployed to control the omnipresence, hazardous effects, and indestructability of plastic. Regulators focus on single-use plastic and recycling to mitigate the omnipresence of plastic and delegate responsibility to other actors for its hazardous effects and indestructability. Plastic producers and distributors avoid blame by developing alternatives to single-use plastic. Consumers locally and sporadically blame policy makers and corporations for plastic problems but lack resources and social organization to effect broad changes in the market. From all these dynamics of blame emerges a scapegoat: consumers accepting responsibility for plastic problems. Dynamics of blame help maintain boundaries of power and interest and contribute to consumer responsibilization, reinforce power imbalances, hinder collaboration among actors with different interests in plastic, and, as such, help maintain market status quo.

RETRACTED: A critical review on the mimetic theory of René Girard: Politics, religion, and violence

AbstractThis paper aims to introduce the mimetic theory of René Girard to explore the connection between culture and religious violence to deal with some critical problems in international affairs. It challenges the narrow conceptualization of the issue of religion and violence as an issue of religious violence. As often as the issue of religion and violence is structured in such a manner, allegedly to pick religion seriously without considering politics or culture seriously. The conception is limited because, as an idea, religion is always contested, negotiated, and developed socially, culturally, or politically. It is a biased interpretation of a world actuality, which under certain conditions grounds violence. Furthermore, this narrow definition of religion suits what critical scholars describe as a problem‐solving strategy to theory. This study demonstrates mimetic theory challenges and reconfigures the conventional interpretation of the issue of religious violence and critically analyse the causes of the hidden, exposed violence as well as the scapegoat mechanism that functions in both domestic cultures as well as in international affairs, maintaining political and cultural order of any society.

The Scapegoat Mechanism in Human Evolution: An Analysis of Ren\xe9 Girard\u2019s Hypothesis on the Process of Hominization

According to anthropological philosopher René Girard (1923–2015), an important human adaptation is our propensity to victimize or scapegoat. He argued that other traits upon which human sociality depends would have destabilized primate dominance-based social hierarchies, making conspecific conflict a limiting factor in hominin evolution. He surmised that a novel mechanism for inhibiting intragroup conflict must have emerged contemporaneously with our social traits, and speculated that this was the tendency to spontaneously unite around the victimization of single individuals. He described an unconscious tendency to both ascribe blame and to imbue the accused with a sacred mystique. This emotionally cathartic scapegoat mechanism, he claimed, enhanced social cohesion, and was the origin of religion, mythology, sacrifice, ritual, cultural institutions, and social norms. It would have functioned by modifying the beliefs and behaviors of the group, rather than of the accused, making the act of accusation more important than the substance. This article aims to examine the empirical evidence for Girard’s claims, and argues that the scapegoat hypothesis has commonalities with several other evolutionary hypotheses, including Wrangham’s execution hypothesis on self-domestication, Dunbar’s hypothesis on the role of storytelling in maintaining group stability, and DeScioli and Kurzban’s hypothesis on the role of non-consequentialist morality in curtailing conflict. Potential implications of the scapegoat hypothesis for evolutionary psychology and psychiatry are discussed.

Memory and Testimony in Extraordinary Times

This paper analyzes two parallel and opposed testimonies of mass annihilation in World War II: Primo Levi’s report of his gruesome experiences in Auschwitz, in The Drowned and the Saved; the testimony of the fire-bombing of Dresden, that killed 130,000 civilians in 1945, recorded by a young American POW, private Kurt Vonnegut Jr, in his novel Slaughterhouse-five. It is basically structured along the phases of the historiographic operation proposed by Paul Ricoeur – testimony and recording of testimonies; questioning of the records and written historical representation of the past – with the objective of drawing conclusions about the role of literature in keeping alive memories that might prevent further atrocities. Steppingstones include the urge to bear witness, the paradoxical links between victims and perpetrators and the choice of literary genders to convey messages. References are made to René Girard’s concept of the scapegoat mechanism as an explanation for the eruption of violence in social groups.

When Xenophobia Spreads Like a Plague: A Critical Pastoral Theological Reflection on Anti-Asian Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT As the coronavirus pandemic exponentially mushrooms across the globe, xenophobia comes after it almost immediately. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 began, Asians and Asian Americans have been subject to various types of anti-Asian violence. From a pastoral theological perspective, this social phenomenon is deeply troubling because Asians and Asian Americans continue to be victimized by racial biases and social prejudices. How should we then address this communal crisis theologically? I answer this question by uncovering the hidden stereotypical, sociocultural narratives that have historically contributed to scapegoating people of Asian descent. In doing so, I critically appropriate René Girard’s social analytic framework and theological insights, especially engaging in his ideas such as mimetic desires, the scapegoat mechanism, and the sacralizing of violence. I argue that to dismantle and shift the scapegoating narrative, it is imperative for the racially victimized and socially marginalized to resist the toxic mechanism of victimization in solidarity.

Culturally Grounded Scapegoating in Response to Illness and the COVID-19 Pandemic.

For years, violence against doctors and healthcare workers has been a growing social issue in China. In a recent series of studies, we provided evidence for a motivated scapegoating account of this violence. Specifically, individuals who feel that the course of their (or their family member's) illness is a threat to their sense of control are more likely to express motivation to aggress against healthcare providers. Drawing on existential theory, we propose that blaming and aggressing against a single individual represents a culturally afforded scapegoating mechanism in China. However, in an era of healthcare crisis (i.e., the global COVID-19 pandemic), it is essential to understand cultural variation in scapegoating in the context of healthcare. We therefore undertook two cross-cultural studies examining how people in the United States and China use different scapegoating responses to re-assert a sense of control during medical uncertainty. One study was conducted prior to the pandemic and allowed us to make an initial validating and exploratory investigation of the constructs of interest. The second study, conducted during the pandemic, was confirmatory and investigated mediation path models. Across the two studies, consistent evidence emerged that, both in response to COVID-related and non-COVID-related illness scenarios, Chinese (relative to U.S.) individuals are more likely to respond by aggressing against an individual doctor, while U.S. (relative to Chinese) individuals are more likely to respond by scapegoating the medical industry/system. Further, Study 2 suggests these culture effects are mediated by differential patterns of primary and secondary control-seeking.

근대 유럽 도시의 카니발적 풍경으로서 도시 공간과 욕망 읽기: 헤테로토피아와 희생양 매커니즘을 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to examine the urban space in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Tow Cities and Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat”. The two works contain the appearance of carnival landscapes occurring in the background of uniform and homogenized modern cities. This paper analyzes the meaning of space in the two works as the concept of heterotopia and the social relationship that occurs in the historical environment of the city as René Girard’s human desire and scapegoat mechanism. This paper suggest the urban space in the works can be interpreted as a social space such as the modernity maze related to the modernization of the subject or the growth of the modern self beyond the function of the physical space which is the background of the occurrence of events. Consequently, I suggest that the two works show the possibility of creating a heterotopia, a small crevice in the urban space filled with order and taboos imposed by mainstream culture.

Analyzing the tragic image in Penelope

The Penelopiad is a groundbreaking adaptation of the classic Homer’s epic Odyssey by the Canadian literary queen Atwood. It has become a classic of the "restatement myth" series. Since its inception, it has been praised by researchers both ideologically and artistically. This article uses Rene Girard's scapegoat mechanism and persecution text theory to interpret Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad from a new perspective. Although the female characters Penelopiad and the twelve maids in the novel encountered different things, they could not avoid the fate of scapegoats. The entire novel all conveys the author's profound intentions. It not only criticizes the cruel oppression of women in the patriarchal society, but also condemns the class violence suffered by the people at the bottom. The characters in the author's writing use the voice of “the other" to complain from the female perspective of the victimization of the weak "scapegoat" in the patriarchal society background sacrificing others in exchange for the normal social order and the maintenance of the right of the aristocratic class, which also reflects the oppression of the aristocratic class to the people at the bottom.

A Girardian Approach to LaVeyan Satanism: Theological Perspectives

This article addresses some convergences in Rene Girard and Anton LaVey’s understandings of Satan. Rene Girard understood Satan as the representation of both mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism, both of which have detrimental influences on human culture. In that sense, in continuation with Christian orthodoxy, Girard did not find any positive aspect in Satanism. By contrast, Anton LaVey had a more positive approach to Satan. LaVey was an unsophisticated Nietzschean, who nevertheless understood well that the German philosopher’s views were not dissimilar to what Satan represents. Rene Girard’s understanding of who (or what) Satan is, makes this clearer.

Girard's Optimism

This article contains a discussion on René Girard’s understanding of the positive sides of imitation—despite the ambivalent nature of desire. Historically speaking, the discovery of the scapegoat mechanism made a great contribution towards limiting violence. The decomposition of the scapegoat mechanism, and its power to find non-violent alternatives, has paved the way for a culture with numerous opportunities. Even if humans constantly rival one another, one must understand and define the close relationship between competition, cooperation, and rivalry. To be able to see the positive sides of mimesis, one needs to have a robust understanding of human nature as competitive and, thereby, see friendship and competition as closely related. Learning and creativity can actually become optimal when there is a high degree of competition. Fierce competition today is allowed because of the taboo against violence. The decomposition of myth has destroyed archaic societies but, at the same time, created problems of an apocalyptic kind. Increasingly, cultures are now de- veloping without the shelter that sacrificial society previously provided. Positive human development, as is evident in the demystifying of violent myths and the increased concern for victims, cannot stem the power of global terror. Despite greater pessimism in his later works, Girard’s hope is that, through the model of Christ, people will finally learn to love their neighbours as themselves. A change of heart is to a certain degree capable to lead people towards the same kind of non-differentiated love as God.

Tito Dorčić as a Forerunner of the Ironic Mode

According to Northrop Frye, 20th-century literature is marked by characters whose intelligence and capabilities are lesser than those of the average human. Typical such figures are the protagonists of Kafka’s and Beckett’s works, who lack even the most basic information regarding their own position – due to which the reader has the sense of looking down on scenes of bondage, frustration or absurdity. Vjenceslav Novak’s Tito Dorčić, from the eponymous novel, is a forerunner of this type of character. He is trapped by his own predisposition and social environment and becomes unhappy in the "better life" imposed on him by his father. He is utterly unsuccessful in his career as well as in his family life. 20th-century interpreters found the cause of Tito’s state, or the source for such a character, in Darwinist theories supposedly praised by the novel’s author; a more recent critic emphasises the psychoanalytic motifs. Both theories unconsciously bear witness to the reduced power of the action of the protagonist. The novel’s final scene, in which Tito Dorčić’s left leg is stuck in a crevice whilst the upper part of his body immersed in the sea is a metaphor of his entire life. The scapegoat mechanism, as proposed by René Girard, also explains the events in Tito Dorčić’s life: the social crisis is seemingly only slightly present, yet Tito is depicted as a person holding a position in the judicial administration which, because of his low intelligence, immorality and lack of cultural refinement, he does not deserve. He commits mistakes in his prosecutor’s work and is punished because an innocent person has been hanged. Tito had previously been marked by the collapse of his marriage. Eventually, he loses his job, falls into madness, which might also be an act of selfpunishment, and at the end, he dies. The text, or the narrator, kills him, in the last step in the long procedure of attacking the protagonist.