Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People

by Charlie Campbell

We may have come a long way from the days when a goat as a symbol was saddled with all the iniquities of the children of Israel and driven into the wilderness, but is our desperate need to find some organization or person to pin the blame on and absolve ourselves of responsibility really any more advanced?

Charlie Campbell highlights the plight of all those others who have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, illustrating how God needs the Devil as Sherlock Holmes needs Professor Moriarty or James Bond needs "Goldfinger."

Scapegoat is a tale of human foolishness that exposes the anger and irrationality of blame-mongering while reminding readers of their own capacity for it. From medieval witch burning to reality TV, this is a brilliantly relevant and timely social history that looks at the obsession, mania, persecution and injustice of scapegoating.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World History, Psychology, Microhistory, Cultural

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name
For other authors of this name, see:

Charlie Campbell - Cricket, Literary Review

Charlie H. Campbell - Theology

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise for this book had real potential, but the execution was decidedly lacking. A book about scapegoating throughout history, about all the ways humanity has found to blame others for its faults, about the ways in which groups and individuals have been ostracised and exiled, made to be 'other'...there is so much rich ground to cover there, so much depth and psychology to explore. This book could have been a thousand pages long, two thousand pages. The fact that it's barely 200 pages including notes tells a lot.

It's superficial, at best. How in a book about scapegoating you can gloss over something like Antisemitism in scarcely more than four or five pages is beyond me. Each chapter covers a single topic - witch-hunts, communism, Jesus Christ, conspiracy theories, even animals - but there's so little depth to it that I was wanting more on almost every page and being left disappointed. If this had been part of the 'Short Histories' series I could understand it, but I can't help but feel if you're not going to do the topic justice there's little point in writing a book like this. It boils down incredibly complex historical events and psychological impulses to the most basic, simplistic level - if only history and humanity was so simple.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely magnificent. My brain has changed through the reading of this book. There has never been a better time to read it.

This is recommended reading for Covid. It explores the history of why - when things get a bit difficult - 'we' blame other people.

Campbell also has a sub-book within this argument. He looks at why "stupidity" has been valued through history. While I am confronted by this word - wow he makes a strong case.

And I will finish this review with a commentary about diseases, blame and scapegoating. Campbell states, “The naming of diseases provides us with the most obvious form of scapegoating. The process of naming a disease after a place has sometimes been more deliberately malicious. Syphilis, for example, has been known by names that serviced to demonize another nation. So it would be known as the French disease in Italy and as the Italian disease in France.”

This argument is so confronting it should be required reading for everyone who thinks they 'lead' or are in a 'leadership role.' The profound "stupidity" of history and the lengths to which humanity has gone to blame gods, pigs, bees, witches and divergent religions is absolutely, completely and frighteningly stunning.

Wow.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People, by Charlie Campbell, is a slight volume that chronicles the human tendency to assign blame for things that go wrong, from blaming animals (the infamous goat, for example) to religious groups (Jews, especially) to entire genders (women, obviously) and also to blame individual people such as Alfred Dreyfus in 1880s France. Although the book tries to develop a common theme about the need to find causes for unexplained negative phenomenon, it's really a compendium of loosely related anecdotes that the author uses to explicate his theme; as such it is quite entertaining, for example in the chapter, "The Literal Scapegoat," which cites various cases in the Middle Ages in which weevils or locusts or other insects are accused, put on trial and, in some cases, excommunicated for destroying crops. There are some serious discussions of the results of the need to blame, for example the section concerning witchcraft and the treatment of women in various societies, but for the most part the tone of the book is quite humourous. One feature that I like in this book is that there are footnotes, something I expect in non-fiction, but these footnotes are of the sort involving snippets of trivia that don't otherwise fit into the main narrative but which are too entertaining to leave out. If you want a serious discussion of the psychology of blaming others, this is not that book; but for a short, breezy trip through various creatures that have served the purpose, it's quite an enjoyable read.

[Adam Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Campbell's work is equal parts interesting and frustrating. Interesting because of many of his historical examples and engaging style. Frustrating because he does not seek to differentiate scapegoating and blame (the two are not the same thing; a scapegoat is an innocent person blamed for something that is the fault of the collective group or guilty party. Victim-blaming is a form of scapegoating, like blaming the way the girl was dressed for sexual assault. Blame is correctly identifying the guilty party, such as noting that the drunk driver was responsible for any injuries or death they might cause). Still, an interesting book from which I learned a number of interesting things.

[Pae Ponsiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

ปรักปรำศาสตร์ โดยชาลี แคมป์เบลล์ (เขียน), อลิสา สันตสมบัติ (แปล)
เนื้อหาโดยสรุปเป็นเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับประวัติศาสตร์การใส่ร้ายป้ายสีให้กับสิ่งต่างๆของมนุษย์ โดยแพะรับบาปนี้มีตั้งแต่คน สัตว์ หรือกระทั่งเทพเจ้า โดยรายละเอียดของแต่ละบทมีตั้งแต่โยนความผิดให้ผู้ใต้ปกครอง, มารศาสนา, พระผู้ไถ่บาป, แม่มด, ชาวยิว, คอมมิวนิสต์, นักการเงินร่ำรวย, โรคระบาด, หรือเดรย์ฟุส เป็นต้น
.
หนังสือมีหลายตัวอย่างที่น่าสนใจ แต่ส่วนใหญ่ช่วงกลางๆเรื่องเน้นหนักไปในเรื่องเกี่ยวกับศาสนาคริสต์
หนังสือเขียนแบบกว้างๆ แต่น่าเสียดายที่แต่ละเรื่องมีรายละเอียดน้อยเกินกว่าที่ควรจะมี
ความเห็นผม บางบทหรือบางย่อหน้าผู้ถึงหลายเรื่องปนกันจนเกินไป จนไม่แน่ใจว่าจะสืออะไรเป็นหลัก
บางท่านเห็นว่าหนังสือให้แต่ภาพชาวยิวถูกกระทำ แต่ไม่มีมุมวิพากษ์โต้แย้งข้อเสนอเดิมๆ (Phakin)
.
.
"...ส่วนใหญ่เรากล่าวโทษเพื่อให้อยู่กับตัวเองได้ ... เราเก็บความทรงจำบางอย่างและจิตใต้สำนึกก็คัดเลือกสิ่งที่ไม่เข้าพวกทิ้งไป ... เราอาจค้นพบตัวเองด้วยการใช้สมองมากขึ้นในการสร้างคำอธิบายและข้อแก้ตัวเมื่อได้ทำตามที่อารมณ์บงการ..." [แคมป์เบลล์, 2558 : 151]
.
ผมชอบคำอธิบายข้างต้น ผมเห็นด้วยว่าเราไม่ควรเอาแต่โทษคนอื่น แต่ก็ต้องระวังถ้าจะโทษทุกอย่างเป็นความผิดของตัวเอง (ในแง่นี้ชาลีก็อาจแซวผมได้ว่าสุดท้ายผมก็ยังโทษอย่างอื่น)
ปัญหาบางอย่างไม่ได้เป็นเรื่องของแค่บุคคล (รวมถึงสัตว์ สิ่งของ หรืออื่นๆ) แต่ปัญหาบางอย่างเป็นเรื่องระดับโครงสร้างหรือวัฒนธรรม การโทษตัวเองเพียงอย่างเดียวต้องระวังอาจกลายเป็นการผลักปัญหาสาธารณะให้กลายเป็นเพียงเรื่องของปัจเจกได้

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of scapegoats and our trans-historical dependency on them is a topic which really interests me, so I was particularly pleased to see a book like this in Waterstones.
Unfortunately within the first few chapters I began to grow bored, as I found the book was filled with details that seemed irrelevant and completely off-topic ("The Church was arrogant and out of touch with the common man. Henry VIII put his sexual desire ahead of his kingly duty" - an interesting debate, and quite a broad and ignorant latter statement in my view, but of no relevance whatsoever to the chapter's title 'The word "scapegoat"')
On the other hand, some chapters did intrigue and enlighten me, particularly those with reference to the origins of 'scapegoating' and interesting examples which revealed the psychology behind the construct.

Overall, I admit my expectations may have been slightly unrealistic considering this is a subject I had an interest in before reading the novel, however I found the book disappointing all the same. Not for me.

[Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anecdotes of people burning each other. Well selected (though I suppose the list could go on forever). The concluding argument: We have trouble living with our own imperfections and wrongness, so we scapegoat others to minimize that cognitive dissonance. To be read with: Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts and The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media: Playing the Villain.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating for this book isn't necessarily a true reflection of my enjoyment of this book. It's more a reflection of the fact that I expected a little more, perhaps. I shouldn't have been too surprised, though, since it is a pretty small book. It's not likely to be as complete as it could be, or go into as much depth as I hoped for. So I'll say that I really enjoyed most of what was there, but hoped for a bit more. The overall tone is lighthearted, which makes for a fun read, but there are times that call for a bit more seriousness. But he covers examples and some explanations (could have used more of this) for some of the classic scapegoats in history: Jews, Women, Christians (in the early days of the church), etc. I learned a lot in an entertaining way. I just hoped for a bit more depth.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, full of humor and interesting information. This book drew my attention because I had recently written an article about playing the blame game in my own life. Glad it caught my eye in the bookstore. I think more people need to be aware of how they themselves blame, as well as our leaders. The more aware all people become, the more we can hold ourselves accountable.

[David M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a good concise history on scapegoating that created good arguments for how flawed humanity really is as an intelligent species, especially when pertaining to tragedies that can at times be difficult to comprehend, and how different permutations of scapegoating form during specific periods of history (and how they can often persist in the modern age). I especially enjoyed learning about the relationship between the habit of scapegoating and religious movements, particularly in how we view sinning in relation to our human selves. The concept of ‘sacrifice’ and ‘offerings’ are early attempts at separating ourselves from our collective guilt of transgressing within our rules, in the hopes that we escape some form of religious punishment from the gods, but Campbell argues is that this ritual hardly address how and why we sin in the first place, and how our own selves could even have to capacity to murder, steal, compulsive, ect. It’s interesting to see how avoidant we have been of answering these kinds of questions from the very beginning of civilization.


This is a just one of many moments in the book that I found myself intrigued and fascinated by. This topic very deserves a much larger exploration than what this book offers so I will treat as a good introduction and jumping off point into a topic so deeply complex and enduring as scapegoating.


7/10

[Arvee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title in itself gripped me into purchasing it without second thought at Big Bad Wolf, when I saw it lying around the History section. The topic in discussion itself, scapegoat and blaming, are the two trigger words. There are nuggets of wisdom written in the pages, but it certainly has a problem of collectively managing the thoughts into one cohesive structure, most especially in the way it was divided into chapters. The initial chapters attempted to reconcile the flow, but it totally went haywire from the middle going to the end. The execution was rather poor and there are topics that were not explored at ALL yet promised in the back cover, like the journalists which was one of the topics I am interested most to read about. I did enjoy though the humorous excerpts depicting rather outlandish notions of scapegoating, most especially on the aspect of animals and inanimate objects. The discussion on Alfred Dreyfus too, piqued my interest. I sincerely hope to read another book dabbling on the topic sometime in the future.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishing this book with a big grin on my face. Interesting topic. Scapegoat. This book is all about scapegoating, from the old story of Adam and Eve, the Church, the Jews, some poor animals, women, witches, economic figures, you name it. It's been our nature, to find something or someone to be blamed. It's in each of us, it's been our tradition. Human enjoy pointing sins and mistakes from others while accusing that as the reason of mischief and bad lucks. An interestinflg book with a lot of subjective point of view, but in a fair way.

[Dan Seitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exceptionally brief skim of the history of scapegoating, divided up into essays focusing on types of scapegoats. It's interesting enough as an overview, but Campbell never gets into any real depth or discusses any detailed or unknown case studies; that witch trials were scapegoating is not a surprise to anybody. Even his overview of the persecution of Alfred Dreyfus is just seven pages or so.

I got this for $2 via a sale, and don't regret buying or reading it. But for more depth, look elsewhere.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of the book was very good i sort of get lost a little bit in the middle there's a lot of various references that he talks briefly about and then moves on to the next as if he was checking off a list of different things he wanted to cover . I felt like the last few chapters were really good maybe because they're more traditional comprehensive of what we already know of the western world and the modern world and history that we are more familiar with.

[Stacy Bonneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an historically driven account of various scapegoats in society. I wish the psychology section was more thorough and the conclusion perhaps applicable to daily life. It does drive home the idea that we all blame to reduce our guilt/enhance our self esteem and go to rather unbelievable lengths to do so.

[Ek Guevara · Rating 3 out of 5]

ประวัติศาสตร์ของ "แพะรับบาป" ในหลาย ๆ บริบท ทั้งด้านสังคม วัฒนธรรม การเมือง การปกครอง ศาสนา ฯ อย่างคร่าว ๆ ไม่ลงรายละเอียดมากนัก ใครที่เคยศึกษาประวัติศาสตร์มาบ้างอาจรู้สึกไม่เต็มที่กับเล่มนี้นัก แต่หากต้องการอ่านประวัติศาสตร์เบื้องต้นของการหาแพะรับบาป เล่มนี้ถือเป็นการเริ่มต้นที่เหมาะสม

[Rictusempra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitap günah keçisi kavramının çıkışıyla başlayıp, tarih boyunca varolan günah keçilerinden bahsederek sürüyor. Son sayfalarda günah keçilerine neden gerek duyulduğunu anlatarak bitiriliyor. Çok ilginç hikayelere değinilmiş, insanı kendiyle ve toplumla yüzleştiren bir kitap.

[Gaiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sweeping history of the blame game is found wanting in some areas, but the author's short bursts of zestful commentaries make up for it.

[:.Cristina.: · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[kale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow, straightforward, but also thought-provoking. I love the idea that the opposite of the prince is the scapegoat, and the scapegoat is synonymous to a hero.

[Derya A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zaman zaman kendinizi gunah keçisi olarak adleder misiniz? Ben de bu etiketi taşıyanlardan biri olarak keyifle okudum gunah keçisinin tarihsel yolculuğunu.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories but more religious than I expected

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and- considering the subject- relatively light read. Some chapters seemed to end abruptly... I thought there was considerably more to be said on some of those topics. Also, some chapters were more interesting than others- I really enjoyed the one about witchcraft and the one about scapegoating animals was hilarious, but I found my mind wandering during some of the more abstract sections.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well worth reading. A lot of history on a topic were all guity of "blaming others". Putting pigs on trial, excommunicating horses, snakes grasshoppers anything living or dead that crossed the church or state.
The economics of hunting witches at 20 shillings a conviction no wonder they had so many victims and lot more triva on why the good old days were lousy.....

[Hayley Dyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book 3.5 stars. Great, interesting content but I would have liked some topics to have been cut down some (I feel like the Christianity and witchcraft chapters were extra long!). Really good book to read at this moment in history. And I feel like I learned a lot about the persecution of Jews in Europe. Definitely would recommend it!

[Burcu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiliseyi hristiyanlığın ana otoritesi olarak gormeyi reddeden, İncil çevirmeni Tyndale'i astırmak için elinden geleni yapan Thomas More'un, protestan olan Kralı klisenin başı olarak kabul etmemesi yüzünden asılması... Boylesi bir ilahi adalet, içinde yaşadığımız komedyayı serinletiyor doğrusu.

[Kin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ช่วงแรกกับช่วงท้ายสนุกดี ช่วงกลางๆ เรารู้สึกแปลกๆ อาจจะเป็นเพราะเรื่องที่เราไม่ได้สนใจเป็นทุนเดิม และเบื่อกับ argument ที่เห็นชาวยิวเป็นแต่ แพะรับบาป และไม่ค่อยมีแง่มุมที่ critical ไปกว่านั้น อ่านสนุกดี อ้างอิงน้อยไปหน่อย ข้อมูลที่น่าสนใจบางอย่างก็ไม่อ้าง แน่หละ มันไม่ใช่หนังสือวิชาการนี่

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The truth is that we, who pride ourselves on being the most intelligent life-form on earth, are just not quite clever enough fully to understand ourselves or the world around us. This is never more manifest than when we blame others."

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

[Shana Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read, just wish some of the chapters were longer.