Why does the scapegoat become picked as the scapegoat?

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on a question she has received in multiple settings about how scapegoating operates, and why specific people might be targeted as scapegoats. This query is very prominent in the work she does and is a major part of her current doctoral thesis. She expands around the thinking previously shared on the podcast about both scapegoating, and the location of disturbance, covering basic definitions, existing psychological theories and her own more group analysis focused thoughts.

She covers the ideas around repetition compulsion that locate the reasons people are scapegoated generally within their inner lives and backgrounds, but also calls this out as potentially toxic victim blaming, asking us to consider the structural and systemic factors at play. She doesn’t have a final answer, and perhaps no final definitive answers exist for situations so influenced by many lenses and contexts. But she offers many angles and potential theories along with some advice on how to approach scapegoating within groups. 

Location of Disturbance and Scapegoating: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/episodes/8127268

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