Scapegoats: Transferring Blame

by Douglas; Tom

• ISBN13: 9780415110181
• ISBN10: 0415110181
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-11-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

forms of scapegoating in detail.menon, appearing in all societies at all times in groups large and small, in public and private organizations. InScapegoats,Tom Douglas examines the process of scapegoating, from the perspectives of victims and perpetrators, tracing its development from earliest times as rite of atonement to the modern forms of the avoidance of blame and the victimization of innocents. The theories and explanations which social scientists have evolved to define scapegoating as a form of social behaviour are examined and the processes of its management and resolution are covered in detail. Finally, Douglas analyzes the distinction between the "rational"--deliberate and intentional victimization-- and the "irrational"--response to frustration of unknown or wrongly attributed causes-- forms of scapegoating in detail.

Table of Contents

Ancient Ritual	p. 1
Origins Tyndale's Word and Its Continued Use	p. 3
Purification and Propitiation	p. 13
Sin-Eaters, Whipping Boys and Fall Guys	p. 31
Social Behaviour	p. 49
Scapegoating as Public Behaviour	p. 51
Scapegoating as Social Behaviour	p. 70
Victims	p. 85
Theories and Explanations	p. 107
Attempts at Understanding: the Process	p. 109
Attempts at Understanding: the Victim	p. 135
Management	p. 149
The Management of Scapegoating	p. 153
The Resolution of Scapegoating	p. 170
Rite, Ritual or Survival Strategy?	p. 190
Bibliography	p. 204
Index	p. 208
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