Knowra Scapegoating Scapegoating Scapegoating is the practice of unfairly assigning a person or group responsibility for broader troubles. It redirects blame from complex causes or powerful actors toward a convenient target.
Attribution theory : Attribution theory studies how people explain the causes of behavior and events. Scapegoating distorts causal attribution by making a target stand in for complex problems.
Book of Leviticus : The third book of the Hebrew Bible, containing laws and rituals for ancient Israel. Its Day of Atonement ritual supplied the biblical image behind the English term.
James George Frazer : A Scottish anthropologist whose comparative work examined myths, rituals, and religious practices. His studies helped popularize the scapegoat as a comparative anthropological motif.
Salem witch trials : A series of witchcraft prosecutions in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. Accusations concentrated community fears and conflicts on alleged witches.
Dehumanization : The denial of human qualities, individuality, or moral standing to people or groups. Treating targets as less than human can make their exclusion or mistreatment seem acceptable.
Fundamental attribution error : The tendency to overemphasize personal traits and understate situational causes when explaining others' behavior. It helps explain why blame can settle on a person rather than circumstances.
Day of Atonement : The Jewish holy day devoted to atonement, repentance, and forgiveness. Its ancient ritual included transferring communal wrongdoing symbolically to a goat.
Walter Burkert : A German classicist known for research on ancient Greek religion, myth, and ritual. His work examined sacrificial rituals that resemble communal expulsion and purification.
Dreyfus affair : A political scandal in France centered on the wrongful conviction of Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus for treason. Antisemitic blame helped make Dreyfus a target for broader anxieties about France.
Discrimination : Unjust treatment of people based on characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, or sex. Scapegoating can turn false accusations into unequal treatment.
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