Scapegoats: Transferring Blame

forms of scapegoating in detail.menon, appearing in all societies at all times in groups large and small, in public and private organizations. In "Scapegoats," 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.