Biographical Sketch : Dr. Vimala Pillari

“I bear I will be born this is a crime I will not acknowledge leaves and wind hold onto me I will not give in”(Atwood 3). In the selections The Crucible by Arthur Miller and Half- Hanged Mary by Margaret Atwood scapegoating is found in both. A society under stress can affect a person or a group of people more likely by the cause of scapegoating then it can others.

Scapegoats are a recurring theme throughout stories and literature in all different cultures. The concept of scapegoats first appears in the Book of Leviticus, where a goat is left in a desert far away from society taking the sins of the community with it. In more recent works, a scapegoat is someone who has been blamed for wrongdoings or mistakes. In society and in literature, people in power scapegoat those with less power as a way to blame problems on one specific person or group. Usually, the person being blamed is not at fault for what they’re being accused of, however, the person or group scapegoating has chosen them because they are an easy target. The use of scapegoats has been around since the beginning of humanity and although it

“Abuse and neglect of children occurs in all types of families regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or religious group” (Lingern, 2008). There is no single cause of child abuse. Instead it is the result of many forces, within the family, working towards the destruction of the child’s psyche. The most important thing to remember is that it is never the child’s fault. Three prevalent risk factors for those who abuse children are: parents who were abused as a child, parents that abuse drugs and alcohol, and parents with mental illnesses.

Scapegoating is “when frustrated or unhappy, people tend to displace aggression onto groups that are disliked, visible, and relatively powerless” (Ch. 13 PowerPoint: Slide 70). An example of scapegoating is when the economy crashed in 2008. People were out of work and many Americans blamed minorities for “taking their jobs.”

“Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children (A report can include multiple children). The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations- loses on average between four to seven children every day due to child abuse and neglect” ("National Child Abuse Statistics."). There are numerous children who are suffering from child abuse, but determining what child abuse is for each state differs. This makes it harder to determine how to solve the issue of child abuse and the fact that it has existed for so long. To help solve the issue of child abuse, innovative programs are being created every day. Some of those programs are using culture to determine whether or not it is a factor.

family view her as ‘shameful’ or ‘dirty’. Sociological studies by Chivers-Wilson (2006) presented a link between modern cultures of victim blaming/shaming and the onset of PTSD. Undoubtedly judgmental and unsupportive

David Pelzer was the victim of severe abuse by his alcoholic mother. He suffered from her abuse for eight years before he was rescued by his school nurse and the police. Now he is a successful author, husband and father (Abernethy, 2011). However, some who are abused, are not as successful in their adult lives as he is. Many of those who are or have been abused as a child are greatly impacted by the abuse. As an adult, they must find where they fit into the social world, while still being true to themselves and coping with their past. Though many feel as if they are alone, it has been shown that 14% of adults between the age of 18 and 54 have been mistreated as a child. Low-income families have a higher likelihood of abusing their

Scapegoating is defined as the action of blaming an individual or group for wrongdoings, especially to draw/redirect attention or responsibility away from oneself. Individuals might scapegoat in order to enact revenge upon others or to avoid personal responsibility for their actions. Scapegoating is especially prevalent in society when there are terrible socioeconomic circumstances and a high level of fear suggested by the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as well as the Red Scare in the 1960s. Individuals in these circumstances take advantage of the paranoia in the atmosphere and blame or justify their problems on the object of fear. The high level of fear in these communities warps society’s judgement of the feared

The experience I had as a member of a group in which someone became a scapegoat involves a situation in which I was a scapegoat. This situation occurred last year, September of 2015, not long after starting to take classes at Teachers College. The class in which this incident occurred was Fundamentals of Cooperation, Conflict Resolution, and Mediation in Different Institutional Contexts. I was assigned to a group at the time by the professor of the class. I will speak in third person regarding this incident.

Her stories makes readers get involved by using almost vague words that allow them to paint and fill in the blanks themselves. Scapegoatism is the act of making someone or something bear the blame for others. People do not really think about scapegoating because it does not relate to them directly. Scapegoats, like the one in Le Guin’s story, are sometimes subjected to irrational hostility and abuse. Le Guin’s story is captivating, interesting and intriguing as it exposes the issue of scapegoatism in a metaphorical image.

Through Marc Parent’s view, we get to see the tiny bits of the Child Welfare System of New York City and understand how it works and how it doesn’t. From living in a small town in Wisconsin, where children are happy and enjoy their life every day, Marc Parent ventured to New York City with the sole purpose of helping kids who were neglected and abused by their parents. During his four years tenure at the New York’s Emergency Children’s Services, he had to make the call as to whether or not children should be taken from their living situations. It was during this time that Mar Parent had to witness the horror of child abuse that would haunt him for years. The things he saw and experienced over the years took their toll on him and in return causing him to doubt his own motives and abilities. As he puts it, his time at NYECS allowed him to witness the ‘’darkness basement of human behavior, where parents become perpetrators and children lie still on the floor’’ (Parents, 2001). However, he realized that making a difference in the life of just one child on any given night is enough for him to keep going. Even though the system is flawed as it doesn’t save every child, but making a difference, one child at a time, shows why the system serves an important, vital purpose in our

Also, in LGBTQ relationships which involve children, the abuser may use the children to hurt their partner and that is not in the best interest of the children involved. There needs to be an end to all abuse against all individuals who experience any form of intimate partner violence. There is a necessity for available resources to service the LGBTQ community to prevent intimate partner violence. Therefore, the demands for shelters are crucial to aid the victim to escape to safely. Also, social workers within LGBTQ communities should address this particular problem with anyone who needs assistance to leave an abuser with confidentiality and confidence that they will be safe. People may be judgmental to blame the victim; however, the victim’s life is valuable. In fact, in heterosexual relationships, some people seem to blame the victim along with revictimizing the victim, and this is one problem that reaches out and across domestic violence and intimate violence cases. Perpetrators victim blaming and deflecting blame towards the people who have been hurt by the abuser needs to be reevaluated through the creation of new policies regardless of an individual being LGBTQ or heterosexual,

A scapegoat is a person or group of people who is blamed for something even if it isn't their faults, usually because they are deemed as being “different”. People in positions of power can use their power to suppress people with fear of being different, and abuse their power to place blame on these scapegoats. In the novel Scapegoat, the narrator is explaining how humans have this self delusion that causes them to believe they are better than they actually are. “... the laws of maths and nature ensure that some of us are below average. But we are inclined to believe that we are all special…The idea of Attribution Theory states that we have an urgent need to find reasons for an event, and this leads us to leap to conclusions and hold others responsible.

A scapegoat must have two qualities. First, it must be anecdotal; meaning it must be representative of “certain unwanted evils.” Burke describes these unwanted evils as guilt from historical and cultural identifications. In my understanding, “historical and cultural identifications” can be seen in modern day situations such as Tamir’s. These identifications are the negative associations which African American stereotypes have created throughout time. An article written by Kenneth W. Goings in February 1990, states the idea of these stereotypes, saying, “These objects produced from the late 17th century to the present, have been almost universally derogatory, with exaggerated racial features that helped ‘prove’ that African Americans were ‘different’ and inferior.” (Goings, Kenneth.) Historical and culturally, these stereotypes say things such as African Americans look suspicious based of apparel, facial expressions, or physical intimidation therefore making it reasonable for officers to become suspicious. These stereotypes and identification issues make the scapegoats’ guilt easily understood by society and law courts that decide cases such as Tamir Rice’s. Burke’s second point states that a scapegoat needs to be powerful because it must be at least equal to the burden of guilt, so that the sacrifice destroys a vessel strong enough to hold the transgression. Burke notes that the scapegoat must be “worthy legalistically,

My working hypothesis is that all the family members in their own positions, internalizing the dominant culture narratives are rejecting themselves and blaming other family members.