The ancient ritual of selecting and banishing a goat stained with red pigment represented collective sins. Today, a scapegoat is often held accountable for an organization’s failures or shortcomings, sometimes for political or strategic reasons. Scapegoating can be an act of self-preservation, absolving individuals of personal responsibility.
An ancient ritual described in the Old Testament involved the selection and eventual banishment of a goat from the rest of the herd. This goat was often stained with a red pigment, which represents the collective sins and wrongdoings of the entire community. According to tradition, this goat was sent into the desert to meet Azazel, a fallen angel similar to Satan or Lucifer. A medieval mistranslation created the modern legend of an escaped goat, or scapegoat.
In modern terms, a scapegoat is often a member of an organization held accountable for the failures or shortcomings of the entire group. The chief financial officer of a bankrupt company may be held liable for its financial failures, for example. A disgraced executive can be blamed for wrongdoing a company has committed, or a low-level politician can be treated as a representative of widespread government corruption.
This does not mean that a scapegoat is completely innocent of the charges or that he has been sacrificed unjustly. A person convicted of public corruption while in office can become a symbol for others who have committed similar crimes but have not been charged or punished. When a scandal involving the illegal use of steroids broke out in the sports world, some people believed that a handful of players who admitted to their drug use had become scapegoats for their entire organizations. This person can also be seen as a sacrificial lamb who accepts punishment to protect others.
There are also situations where a scapegoat is selected for political or strategic reasons. Placing the blame for a company’s failures on a low-level executive, for example, can divert legal attention away from senior officials. The low-level executive’s future may not be so bright, but at least the organization as a whole would survive public scrutiny by punishing a designated offender. Often this person’s role is to put a public face on wrongdoing or corruption and accept the consequences of other people’s actions.
Even scapegoating can be considered an act of self-preservation. Rather than accepting collective blame for a broken window, for example, a group of amateur baseball players might pinpoint the batter to blame. While each player’s actions contributed to the injury, placing all responsibility on the last player to touch the ball would absolve the rest of the group of personal responsibility. It is often much easier for a group to designate one person to take blame than to accept individual responsibility for certain transgressions.
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