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rejudice Theory: Scapegoat Theory

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Scapegoating is the process through which frustration and aggression are

directed at a group that is not the causal agent of the frustration. Scapegoat
theory emerged during the 1940s as a way for social psychologists to explain
why prejudice and racism occur. Though many scholars today choose to
study racism from a social cognitive or institutional perspective, some
continue to use scapegoat theory to study responses to affirmative action and
immigration policies.

Keywords Affirmative Action; Immigration; Prejudice; Racism; Scapegoating;

Social Psychology; Stereotypes

Race
Overview

For over a century, social psychology has concerned itself with the
intersection of the individual with society. One of the field's preeminent
theorists, Gordon Allport, explained in 1954 that "social psychologists regard
their discipline as an attempt to understand and explain how the thought,
feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or
implied presence of other human beings" (quoted in Lubek, 2000, p. 320).
Racism and its social effects have been significant areas of study for social
psychologists. Scholars in the field have put forth a number of theories about
racism, but this article will concentrate on scapegoat theory.

According to Echebarria (1997) scapegoat theory emerged during the 1940s

as social psychologists began their first attempts to conceptualize racial
prejudice. During this time, prejudice was largely seen as being rooted in
psychology, not society; it was "the result of defense mechanisms through
which internal conflicts were resolved" (Echebarria, 1997, p. 1). The
scapegoat theory was introduced during this time as a means of explaining
why frustration and aggression are deflected toward other, less powerful
groups in the form of prejudice, even if those groups are not the source of the
frustration. For example, an economic downturn may cause a group to
become aggressive towards immigrants, whom it blames for taking its jobs,
since it is unable to express its anger toward the cause of its frustration. Thus,
anger, and even violence, is deflected away from the true source of the
frustration which Echebarria defined as the "interruption or impossibility to
obtain certain desired goals" (p. 2)because it is either impossible or too
difficult to address the source of this frustration (Echebarria, 1997, McMannus,
2008).Thus, scapegoat theory introduced societal aspects into the period's
purely psychological approach to prejudice.

Allport

Gordon Allport further advanced the theory during the 1950s with his work on
ingroups and outgroups in The Nature of Prejudice (1954). He drew on
William Graham Sumner's work in Folkways (1906) to outline a theory of
prejudice that is based upon ingroup and outgroup conflict. According to
Allport, the need for defined ingroups and outgroups grew out of our
evolutionary development as an obligatorily interdependent species. Because
humans rely on one another for the information and resources they need to
survive, we must be willing to trust and cooperate with one another. But
indiscriminate trust isn't a good survival strategy, since it is necessary to have
some degree of certainty that the obligation is mutual. Therefore, ingroups are
formed in which members are obligated to reciprocate any aid given to them
in a system of "contingent altruism" (Brewer, 1999, p. 433). At the most basic
level, members expect the ingroup to treat them with kindness and fairness so
long as they cooperate with other group members. As groups become larger,
signs and symbols are created to differentiate ingroup members from
outgroup members so that outgroup members will not accidentally receive the
benefits given to ingroup members. At the same time, the group's institutions
and rules gain a degree of moral authority within the group. And as that
authority becomes more absolute, the ingroup members' tolerance for the
institutions and rules of the outgroup declines, leading to disapproval of or
outright hostility toward the outgroup (Brewer, 1999).

Scapegoating can occur when an ingroup perceives itself to be

interdependent with an outgroup. When the two groups are forced to work
together to achieve a common goal or face a common threat, the lack of
mutual trust between the groups becomes particularly noticeable. Since
neither group can trust the other to not exploit the relationship, the relationship
becomes one of distrust. This distrust can lead to scapegoating as one group
blames the other for the difficulties or failures it encounters while working to
achieve the groups' mutual goal or ward off a mutual threat (Brewer, 1999).

One of Allport's unique insights was that aggression directed against an

outgroup does not serve a cathartic function. Instead, he believed that
aggression feeds on itself, resulting in ever worse relationships between the
two groups (Pettigrew, 1999).

Girard

The French anthropologist and philosopher, Rene Girard, revived scapegoat

theory during the 1980s (Wagner, 1986). Drawing on sources ranging from
Greek mythology to the Biblical Passion, he claimed that:

.human communities maintain their orderlanguage, status, possession

and so forththrough a system of differences. These differences are
threatened by violence within the group. Sacrifice is a momentary reversion to
the chaos of violence in order to maintain the system of differences (Williams,
1989, p. 452)

and

The scapegoat allows the social group to achieve unanimity by imputing its sin
(=violence) to the sacrificial victim. Violence is thus both checked and
maintained through a ritual act that itself is a form of violence (Williams, 1989,
p. 451).

Girard used his most controversial writingsViolence and the

Sacred (1977) The Scapegoat (1986) and Things Hidden Since the
Foundation of the World (1987)to show how sacrificial scapegoats function
in areas as wide ranging as law, literature, politics, and religion. He focused
on sacrificial foundational myths, embedding them with critical importance:

These myths operate [by turning] certain targeted 'others' into 'aliens'. Holding
these aliens responsible for the ills and divisions of society, the scapegoaters
proceed to isolate or eliminate them. This sacrificial strategy furnishes many
communities with their sense of collective identitythat is, with the basic
sense of who is included (us) and who is excluded (aliens). But the price to be
paid is often the demonising of an innocent outsider: the immolation of the
'other' on the altar of the 'alien' (Kearney, 1999, p. 251-252).

Thus scapegoats unite divided groups against a perceived "other," and the
violence directed at the "other" allows the community to forget its internal
divisions. And while examples of the "immolation of the 'other'" are abundant
in Greek or Roman mythology, Girard also argued that the same dynamic is in
play today, too, albeit in less obvious ways. Indeed, Girard argued that all
modern societies take part in scapegoating at some level. Whether the
scapegoating is carried out via a witch hunt or in the name of national
security, the tendency to persecute the "fantasy of the evil adversary"
(Kearney, 1999) is a part of an ancient tradition.

Applications
Affirmative Action

Just as scholars were beginning to formally study prejudice and racism,

America was entering into the civil rights era. In 1955, Brown v. The Board of
Education, 349 U.S. 294 ended de jure segregation in schools, and nine years
later the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned segregation in public places, the
government, and workplaces.

In the years after the civil rights era, some activists and legal scholars sought
to realize further changes by expanding the scope of affirmative action, often
through legal means. These programs are designed to increase the
representation of groups who have historically been excluded from
participation in certain employment sectors, companies, or educational
institutions. Affirmative action programs can take many forms, ranging from
programs that encourage employers and admissions committees to report on
the racial and gender breakdown of those who apply and those who are
accepted to strict quota programs requiring that a specific number or
percentage of those accepted come from underrepresented backgrounds.

While many affirmative action programs remain legal, strict quota programs
were ruled unconstitutional in the landmark affirmative action case
was Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 912 (1978). Allan Bakke, a
white man, had applied to the University of California, Davis Medical School in
1973 and 1974 through its general admissions program and was rejected both
times. He sued, claiming that the university's special admissions program,
which each year admitted sixteen applicants with lower test scores and grade
point averages than applicants to the general program, operated as a racial
and ethnic quota system and had discriminated against him because of his
race. While the Court found that it is a positive good for colleges and graduate
schools to work to achieve diversity...

(The entire section is 4117 words.)