Post by ashliy on Dec 28, 2016 22:21:31 GMT
Scapegoating
Definition:
Scapegoating - Singling out one child, employee or member of a group of peers for unmerited negative treatment or blame.
Picking a Target
Everyone has some relationships that feel less comfortable, natural or rewarding than the others. Some people simply annoy us more, tire us more or challenge us more than others.
For example, many parents struggle to show equitable treatment to their children, who usually have different interests, abilities and behavior patterns, just as employers typically find a broad spectrum of abilities and attitudes within their staff. Teachers find they aren’t able to relate to every student in the same way. Some relationships just take more work than others. That’s life. It’s not possible or practical to treat everyone as if they were exactly the same, all the time.
Differential treatment becomes dysfunctional, however, when it translates into actions such as inequitable systems of reward and punishment or inequitable access or denial of access to opportunities, resources and liberties. It becomes a form of abuse when one child, employee or member of a group is singled out for special punishment, undeserved negative treatment or arbitrarily denied some benefit available to the others.
People with Personality Disorders are particularly susceptible to showing dysfunctional differential treatment because they sometimes allow their feelings to override facts. This means their feelings become so intense that what they feel about a person or situation can receive more of their attention or take a higher priority than what they know about that person or situation. This can then lead to distortions in how they interpret a given situation which are then used to rationalize or justify the way they feel and the way they behave as a result.
Scapegoating can occur in all aspects of life, however, it is most clearly demonstrated and can be most destructive when the person showing favoritism has some form of power or authority over others, such as in parent-child, teacher-student and boss-subordinate relationships.
In the US workplace, various laws such as The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Equal Pay Act, The Age Discrimination Act, The Americans with Disabilities Act and The Civil Rights Act of 1991, prohibit discrimination based on ethnic origin, appearance, gender, religion and disability. Other countries have also passed similar legislation. However, these laws only protect against favoritism which can be objectively verified in a court of law and where an objective criterion for the discriminatory behavior (for example refusing to serve members of a particular ethnic group in a restaurant) can be demonstrated. Negative treatment based on a person’s subjective “gut-feel” judgment about someone’s personality, character or appearance is much harder to regulate or prove in court.
The term “scapegoat” has its origins in the traditional Jewish feast of Yom Kippur - in which the transgressions of the people were ceremonially transferred by the High Priest onto the head of a sacrificial goat - the “escape goat” - which was then banished into the wilderness, taking the sins of the people with it
Scapegoating is the opposite of favoritism as it involves punishments rather than rewards, although they are essentially similar kinds of dysfunction. They both involve judgments which are not based on objective ideas of fairness. Other names for scapegoating include reverse-favoritism, bullying, prejudice, discrimination, bias and partiality.
What Scapegoating in the Home Looks Like
A parent who systematically singles out one child for blame when things go wrong in the family.
A parent who punishes one child more severely than their siblings.
A parent who assigns undesirable responsibilities and chores etc. to just one child in the family.
A parent who routinely speaks more negatively to or about one child in the family.
A parent who refuses to intervene or take notice when other siblings bully, hurt or abuse one child in the family.
What Scapegoating in the Workplace Looks Like
A boss who systematically denies raises and promotions and benefits to just one employee, despite them demonstrating equal or superior performance or merit to others.
A teacher who gives poorer grades to one particular student than their work merits.
A boss who routinely assigns less pleasant or desirable tasks to one employee while giving the more desirable jobs to others.
A boss who covers up or shields other employees from responsibility or accountability while allowing one to face the consequences.
A boss who denies access or time and attention to one employee while giving extensive access to others.
outofthefog.website/top-100-trait-blog/2015/11/4/scapegoating