{"id":33941,"date":"2022-07-19T16:46:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T16:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=33941"},"modified":"2022-07-19T16:46:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T16:46:50","slug":"how-unconscious-feelings-about-ourselves-drive-scapegoating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/19\/how-unconscious-feelings-about-ourselves-drive-scapegoating\/","title":{"rendered":"How unconscious feelings about ourselves drive scapegoating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wpds-c-grBDNq hide-for-print mb-sm undefined\">\n<div class=\"PJLV PJLV-iAjpuP-css flex items-center pr-sm\" data-qa=\"article-actions\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-fLphcs\"><button class=\"wpds-c-gNHrZC wpds-c-gNHrZC-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-gNHrZC-biynoz-density-compact wpds-c-gNHrZC-hZSyid-isOutline-true wpds-c-gNHrZC-ejCoEP-icon-left wpds-c-gNHrZC-futxca-cv wpds-c-gNHrZC-ihhnWqF-css\"><button class=\"PJLV PJLV-igcOMTV-css\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" fill=\"currentColor\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"wpds-c-coakfw wpds-c-jsGDWQ focus-highlight flex items-center justify-center brad-lg pointer transition-400 ease-in-out transition-colors\" aria-label=\"Comment on this story\" iconstyle=\"[object Object]\"><title>Comment on this story<\/title><path d=\"M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p>Comment<\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser-content grid-center\">\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Scapegoating \u2014 the projecting of unwarranted blame \u2014 can crop up often in everyday life. It happens in troubled homes where members shame a family scapegoat rather than look at the true nature of their frustrations. Political leaders can direct constituents\u2019 fears toward a single target: immigrants. Scapegoating also can take a hateful, violent turn. Witness the attacks on Asian Americans during the pandemic and the recent mass shooting of Black people in Buffalo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">On the surface, scapegoating appears straightforward: a case of misguided accusations and aggression. But it\u2019s much more psychologically nuanced, experts say, and those who scapegoat are often driven by unconscious dynamics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cI don\u2019t have to deal with myself if I scapegoat, if I blame,\u201d said Deborah Stewart, a Jungian psychoanalyst in Cape Cod, Mass. \u201cThat\u2019s the part that most people don\u2019t really know \u2014 that they are trying to expel some of their very own feelings by putting them on others.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a target=\"_blank\" data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wellness\/2022\/04\/19\/road-rage-pandemic-safety-tips\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_6\" rel=\"noopener\">Road rage is up. How to deal with an angry driver \u2014 even if it\u2019s you.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">The origins of the term \u201cscapegoat\u201d lie in the Old Testament: In Leviticus, the Israelites ritually placed all of their sins onto the head of a living goat, which was sent into the wilderness to carry the people\u2019s transgressions to a desolate land.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">In the modern era, psychologists describe scapegoating as a defense mechanism, an unconscious coping strategy, Stewart said. Those who scapegoat are aware of their negativity and blaming. Unconsciously, though, scapegoating often reflects feelings about ourselves that make us deeply uncomfortable, whether they stem from struggling financially, failing at relationships, or being terrified of loss of control, illness or death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cThere are things that we cannot bear to see about ourselves,\u201d Stewart said. \u201c \u2018I really don\u2019t want to be seen as vulnerable or stupid or weak or greedy.\u2019 \u201d Instead of addressing these intolerable parts of ourselves, we project our negative traits onto others, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<h3 data-qa=\"article-header\" class=\" pb-sm pt-lgmod\" id=\"7UY4HBMG3VHPTN3XL2UHQOS5YI\">\n<p>Scapegoating deflects inner turmoil<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">On the extreme end, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/investigations\/interactive\/2021\/domestic-terrorism-data\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10&amp;itid=lk_inline_manual_13\" rel=\"noopener\">hate groups<\/a> can exploit this susceptibility. Lauren Manning, 32, described herself as an outcast during her teen years in Ontario, Canada. She struggled academically. Her peers mocked and isolated her. \u201cMy confidence was extremely low to none,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">When she was 16, her father died of an illness. She felt lost without the man whom she had revered as her anchor and best friend, and she began drinking heavily. When a violent white supremacist group recruited her at 17, she found a potent way to deflect the shame of failure and humiliation. \u201cOn the inside, when you feel that beaten down and that low about yourself, you\u2019ll basically look for anything to make yourself feel better,\u201d Manning said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Outwardly, she didn\u2019t have the same skin color as those she scapegoated \u2014 the people she encountered after she left home and lived on the streets. And yet, instead of acknowledging her own binge-drinking, she criticized them for centering their lives on drug use. She judged others as criminals. \u201cMeanwhile, I\u2019m also into criminality,\u201d she said. \u201cI was trying to recruit people into this racist group that I had gotten myself into.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">The projection of her own pain and turmoil was unconscious, she said. \u201cIt was a way to deflect away from my own issues. I feel like we see bad qualities in other people that we also have in ourselves, that we notice first.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<h3 data-qa=\"article-header\" class=\" pb-sm pt-lgmod\" id=\"ZD22DCMLDRB5ZHO2XNLXPWV3CY\">\n<p>Scapegoating can lead to dangerous self-righteousness<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Scapegoating not only feels cathartic but also stokes a sense of self-righteousness, a \u201cseduction of virtue,\u201d Stewart said. By casting others as bad or inferior, a person will \u201ccome up smelling like a rose,\u201d she added. \u201cThat is a defense, too. We\u2019re justifying. We\u2019re moralizing. The righteous mind is a dangerous thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">This sense of righteousness can be used to justify acts of aggression, experts say. The White suspect accused in the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2022\/06\/01\/buffalo-shooting-indictment\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_23\" rel=\"noopener\">May shooting in Buffalo<\/a> that killed 10 people and wounded three, most of them Black, reportedly wrote a manifesto filled with racist rants and talk of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2022\/05\/15\/buffalo-shooter-great-replacement-extremism\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_23\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cgreat replacement\u201d theory<\/a>. The latter holds that White people are losing influence to people of color through immigration and higher birthrates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cI\u2019m not at all condoning violence,\u201d Manning said, \u201cbut basically, the way people in that racist circle see violence is an act of self-defense. \u2026 It\u2019s fear turning into anger turning into violence. \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a target=\"_blank\" data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wellness\/2022\/04\/15\/gaslighting-definition-relationship-abuse-response\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_25\" rel=\"noopener\">How to recognize gaslighting and respond to it<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Those who violently <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2022\/05\/21\/post-poll-black-americans\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_26\" rel=\"noopener\">act out their racism and bias<\/a> are a small subset of those who scapegoat, said Jack McDevitt, a criminology professor and the director of the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University in Boston. But many more people scapegoat out of fear and resentment, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cThere\u2019s a narrative of people getting benefits that the people who hold the scapegoating views aren\u2019t able to get,\u201d he said. McDevitt has seen multiple falsehoods of this sort amplified online. For example, \u201cAsians get a car when they get to this country. The LGBTQ community gets hired at a higher rate than anybody else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Leaders can employ blatant scapegoating for political motives, with harmful results. \u201cWhen public figures, legislators, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wonk\/wp\/2015\/05\/12\/president-obama-on-how-fox-news-teaches-the-middle-class-to-demonize-the-poor\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_30\" rel=\"noopener\">demonize certain groups of people<\/a>, it plays into a narrative that results in scapegoating,\u201d McDevitt said. Such blaming can cause <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/hate-crimes-fbi-2020-asian-black\/2021\/08\/30\/28bede00-09a7-11ec-9781-07796ffb56fe_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_30\" rel=\"noopener\">hate crimes to spike<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">\u201cIt\u2019s important that our leaders don\u2019t engage in this kind of rhetoric,\u201d he said. \u201cIt empowers people who are already biased against that group to say: \u2018If I treat you differently, will anyone care? No.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<h3 data-qa=\"article-header\" class=\" pb-sm pt-lgmod\" id=\"7MNWSEGMFFBIZLWHC647QSUJ5I\">\n<p>Scapegoaters pick safe targets<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Those who scapegoat choose targets that feel safe to blame, Stewart said. They perceive their victims as having less power. A younger sibling might become the family scapegoat, for instance. In society, victims often belong to minority groups, emboldening those who scapegoat to disrespect and dehumanize them with less fear of repercussions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Scapegoating \u201cgives people a sense of false empowerment and protection,\u201d said Michi Fu, a psychologist in Southern California and board member of the Asian American Psychological Association. By creating a psychological gulf between themselves and the scapegoated group, they hope to protect themselves from a feared fate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Because scapegoating is irrational, offenders often will target someone who happens to be nearby. It\u2019s impossible to attack something as amorphous as a virus, so people of various races have misdirected their fear, hostility and lost sense of control by shunning, harassing and physically attacking <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2022\/01\/26\/anti-asian-hate-crime-san-francisco-covid\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_37\" rel=\"noopener\">Asian Americans who had nothing to do with starting the pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Because scapegoating is unconscious, it can be hard to recognize it in oneself. However, a person can start questioning to bring the problem to light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Making broad generalizations about a group can be a telltale sign of scapegoating, McDevitt said. \u201cSome of the stereotypes that form the basis of our scapegoating have an inherent fallacy about the group,\u201d he said. \u201cStep back and ask yourself about that and whether \u2026 that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p><span class=\"font--article-body font-copy hide-for-print ma-0 pb-md db italic interstitial\"><a target=\"_blank\" data-qa=\"interstitial-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/speaking-of-science\/wp\/2016\/05\/02\/scientists-show-how-we-start-stereotyping-the-moment-we-see-a-face\/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_43\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientists show how we start stereotyping the moment we see a face<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">For Manning, the self-scrutiny started after she felt kindness from those she considered enemies. \u201cOne night, after we got into this drunken rampage fight, we go running out into the streets covered in blood and bruises,\u201d she said. Two Black men approached and asked whether they could help. \u201cThey called 911 for us. They stayed and tried to settle us down as much as possible until help got there.\u201d At a job in setting up scaffolding structures, she found camaraderie with her Jamaican co-workers. \u201cThese guys are fun. I actually enjoy going to work in the morning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Cracks had formed in the racist ideology, and Manning felt disillusioned and burned out. She left extremism in 2015, having started to disengage after a close friend was killed. With the help of a counselor, she envisioned a different future for herself and committed to making amends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">She understands the emotions that cause people to scapegoat and demonize others, and she now works as an exit specialist with Life After Hate, a Chicago-based nonprofit that helps people leave far-right hate groups. She also wrote a memoir with her mother, Jeanette Manning, titled \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/embed?asin=B0958LXRRS&amp;preview=newtab&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_D9WVBN3WCR7ESPCFWPC6&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20\" rel=\"noopener\">Walking Away From Hate: Our Journey Through Extremism<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Unearthing unsavory truths about ourselves can be difficult and might require a counselor\u2019s insight. But when people mine their unconscious reasons for scapegoating, Stewart said, \u201cwe will then not be as tempted to act it out by being hateful toward someone, because we\u2019ve given it a seat at the table of consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\">Instead of forcing our feelings of inadequacy into exile \u2014 like the goat sent into the wilderness \u2014 those who scapegoat can embrace this awareness and grow from it. \u201cIf we can acknowledge our own inner weakling, inner thief, insecure person, all of those kinds of things, we\u2019re already bigger,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cI have that part of myself. Otherwise, it has me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\"><i>Katherine Kam is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco Bay area.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"b bt bc-offblack dn-ns hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"mostRead\" subscriptions-section=\"content\"\/><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wellness\/2022\/07\/19\/scapegoating-causes-reasons\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Comment on this story Comment Scapegoating \u2014 the projecting of unwarranted blame \u2014 can&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33943,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33941\/revisions\/33943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}