A Genealogy of Violence and Religion by Murphy James Bernard

Author:Murphy, James Bernard
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782845454
Publisher: International Specialized Book Services
Published: 2018-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOUR

A Crowd of Theories

René Girard: What a delight to talk about crowds and scapegoats with the great social psychologist, Gordon Allport, who has written about the psychology of scapegoating, and with Elias Canetti, a Nobel Laureate in Literature and author of the magisterial Crowds and Power. My friend Sigmund Freud, who needs no introduction, has agreed to join us as well. Feel free to gang up against me; I am accustomed to it! By the end of our conversation, I am sure you will all be fast friends. From the conference room of our Paris hotel, we enjoy a spectacular view of Place de la Concorde. What a splendid name for a public square infamous for so many scapegoat murders during the Revolution—for, yes, killing the scapegoat does indeed lay the foundation for peace. I think I can see Madame Defarge . . .

Gordon Allport: I want to thank René for bringing the terrible scandal of scapegoating to our attention. Indeed, he is responsible for popularizing the term lynchage in contemporary French. No one can deny the reality of scapegoating. Every human being has felt a desire to vent his or her frustration upon totally innocent victims. Indeed, sometimes we even “punish” inanimate objects. Yet we often hide this ugly and irrational impulse under layers of rationalization to the effect that the chosen victim somehow deserves our unwarranted abuse. Dad is more likely to kick the family dog after a stressful day at work; similarly, social groups and even whole nations are more likely to choose arbitrary scapegoats when they are under severe pressure, especially in time of war, famine, or plague. This impulse to find and to victimize scapegoats has caused unfathomable suffering for racial and religious minorities since the dawn of history.

René Girard: Gordon, I reject your attempt to reduce the social phenomenon of scapegoating to the individual psychology of frustration and aggression. Kicking the family dog has nothing to do with the social reality of scapegoating, which has the function of creating social unity, not venting frustration. Only social groups are capable of scapegoating, though the victims of scapegoating can be either individual persons or minority groups. Sometimes Captain Dreyfus is the victim and sometimes it is the whole Jewish race. But the scapegoater must always be a social group since the whole point of scapegoating is to create social harmony. Nothing— absolutely nothing—brings people together like killing an innocent victim. Even groups absolutely riven with violent conflict within their ranks will experience profound harmony when they find and kill a scapegoat. The Gospel reports that after scapegoating Jesus, Pilate and Herod—who had been enemies—suddenly became friends. All other forms of social harmony are trivial or illusory compared to the harmony created by the death of the scapegoat. Scapegoating is a social not a psychological fact.

Gordon Allport: Just because psychology and sociology are sharply divided within the academy does not mean they are separable in real life. What basis could the sociology of scapegoating have if

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