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Article: Scapegoating: dynamics and interventions in group counseling.
- Article from:
- Journal of Counseling and Development
- Article date:
- June 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 American Counseling Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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According to the Biblical story, the term scapegoat originates in the ancient ritual in which a goat was sent into the desert to symbolically atone for the sins of the Israelites (Leviticus, 16:8-17; New International Version). In contemporary usage, an innocent person is assigned the blame when actual targets are excessively threatening and thought to have the potential for retaliation (Clark, 1997). In both the historical tradition and the modern definition, individuals purge themselves by transferring their iniquities to a victimized scapegoat. From the long-established perspective of family therapy, the scapegoated member of a family, who is perceived as a problem by ...