This can happen in any group, especially when you’re in a toxic social environment. In that dynamic, you may have been unfortunately and unfairly labeled as the “uncontrollable” one. You might have faced exclusion, cruelty, confusion, and a kind of collective gaslighting that has nothing to do with your actual worth. In psychology, group behavior is less about seeking truth and more about preserving a sense of harmony and a unified group identity. Philosophy also identifies it as the scapegoat theory.
What Is Mimetic Desire?
As a profound anthropological and philosophical framework, it was developed by the French thinker René Girard. First fully articulated in his groundbreaking 1972 book, Violence and the Sacred, the theory explains how human communities maintain internal peace and resolve violence. Unfortunately, it often is not through rational contracts or even negotiation, but through collective, targeted exclusion.
To understand the scapegoat, we need to first look at mimetic desire. According to Girard, humans do not autonomously decide what they want; instead, we copy the desires of others. And that is the problem. If everyone wants the same, they compete for the same resource. And inevitably, it leads to “mimetic rivalry,” which can eventually involve violence and destruction of the group.
The Unite Illusion
As rivalries multiply, social distinctions dissolve, and the group enters a chaotic “mimetic crisis” of all-against-all hostility. To prevent total self-destruction, the community unconsciously projects all its internal conflict onto an arbitrary victim. Typically, an outsider, a minority, a non-conformist, or someone with vulnerable physical or mental conditions. Because the shared hostility is buried with the victim, a sudden, miraculous peace descends upon the community.
Crucially, for this mechanism to work, the community must collectively and wholeheartedly believe that the chosen black sheep is truly guilty and solely responsible for the problem. After the blame or banishment, the whole society then reassures itself: we were right about that person. Now that he is gone, we return to normal.
How to Resist It?
While the theory stands in ancient societies, it plays out daily in offices, social groups, or online culture. If you care about the truth, unusual unity is usually the first sign. When a complex systemic failure or scandal occurs, watch for sudden, absolute consensus surrounding the guilt of a single individual (or a minority group).
Depending on where you stand, you can choose to stay out of the shared hatred. Psychologically, it is incredibly powerful to connect with others over a mutual enemy. Girard especially noted that former enemies can instantly become allies when they unite against a scapegoat.
But if you want to protect yourself from corporate or social gossip where unity is manufactured purely through a collective, blind conviction that someone else is the “problem,” you can zoom out and examine the system from a third perspective.
When a community wants to fire, exile, or blame an outsider who refuses to comply or targets someone vulnerable as an easy scapegoat, it is often quite obvious. Staying away from that wave may save you in the long term. (Related: Why Are People Trapped in a Dysfunctional Social Circle?)
*What is Daily Insight? An ongoing series of quick, bite-sized brain snacks. Every week, there are three research-based factual reports and three research-informed reflective notes.
