Scapegoating refers to situations where someone blames someone else for something they haven’t done or aren’t responsible for. This shifting of blame is often a defense mechanism in order to avoid taking responsibility or to avoid conflict. Often the person is someone in authority or has some kind of power over the person who is being blamed. E.g. your boss, a parent, or someone you’re financially or emotionally dependent on.
Think of situations such as a boss who blames you for the failure of a project instead of taking responsibility him or herself for not providing the necessary resources to complete the project. A parent who blames a child for their substance abuse problems. A spouse who blames their inability to control their aggression on their partner. A father who tells a child it’s the mother’s fault for breaking up a family, instead of taking responsibility for his own role in the dissolution of the marriage.
This can be traumatic.
This article will be updated with further research and sources soon.
Sources
DEVELOPING THE COVERT TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE SCALE (COTES): A RETROSPECTIVE EARLY PSYCHOSOCIAL TRAUMA ASSESSMENT TOOL
Tiffany E. Vastardis PhD, LMHC, CCTP, CMHIMP
Clinical Education Specialist • Florida Residential Clinical Training Liaison • Mental Health Researcher • Licensed Psychotherapist • Clinical Trauma Specialist • Integrative Medicine Practitioner
Scapegoating
A limited body of research has been devoted to the occurrence of scapegoating
within household units. The term first appeared in family theories literature during the
late 1950s and early 1960s, by theorists Ackerman (1958) and Vogel and Bell (1960),
though it is an ancient term included in Judeo-Christian scripture (Yahav & Sharlin,
2002). In relation to family theory, scapegoating is loosely defined as defense
mechanism, wherein, one individual shifts the focus of a conflict from one member to
another. Most often, a figure of authority, such as a parent or caretaker, is the responsible
party, and blame for a situation is transferred to a subordinate, such as a child (Broderick
& Pulliam-Krager, 1979). Scapegoating can also take place in contexts outside of the
household, such as within peer groups (Dixon, 2007) and workplace environments.
Within the former two contexts, scapegoating “marks the symptom-carrying child as the
focus for the projection of unacceptable characteristics, conflicts and problems and the
object onto which aggression may be transferred,” (Yahav & Sharlin, 2002, p. 92). As a
result, the symptom-bearing child may express various forms of pathology, such as
depressive and anxious symptomology, conduct problems, inter-relational and personality
dysfunction (Wang, Liu, & Belsky, 2017; Yahav & Sharlin, 2002), and poor adolescent
adjustment (Arnold, 1985). Scapegoating may also be used as a form of triangulation, pitting family members against one another, causing intrafamilial discord (Wang et al., 2017).