The scapegoat: violence, law and origin

John Lechte

doi:10.1177/02632764251347242

The scapegoat: violence, law and origin

John Lechte^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Communication, Society and Culture

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Beginning with the current environment of populism, this article considers the scapegoat as a general notion and as it appears in the work of René Girard and Sigmund Freud. For the latter thinkers, myth, ritual remembrance and current practices in the present, as proposed, for example, by Hobbes, form the basis of the method that would expose the reality of the violent origin of society, the law and the political. The reliance on secondary data means that the origin is only grasped speculatively, not scientifically. The article develops the implications of this for an understanding of the status of the law as a bulwark against scapegoating. The conclusion is that to combat injustice, law must be united with a certain transcendence.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	77-92
Number of pages	16
Journal	Theory, Culture and Society
Volume	42
Issue number	6
Early online date	20 Jul 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764251347242
Publication status	Published - Nov 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Emmanuel Levinas
law
myth
René Girard
scapegoat
Sigmund Freud
violence

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10.1177/02632764251347242

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 187 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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The scapegoat: violence, law and origin

Abstract

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Keywords

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