Article
Scapegoating
Counseling Faculty Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2017
Disciplines
Abstract
The term scapegoating comes from the Hebraic tradition of the Day of Atonement. The patriarch Moses would take a goat and curse it with the sins of the people of Israel. This would then be followed by sending the goat, laden with the sins of the people, into the wilderness alone to die for them. The goat’s symbolic sacrifice was a way of removing the year’s evil thoughts and behavior from the people and transferring them to the innocent goat so that the people could move forward in a new way.
Citation Information
Ellison, Lori. "Scapegoating." The SAGE Encyclopedia of Marriage, Family, and Couples Counseling, edited by Jon Carlson and Shannon B. Dermer, vol. 4, SAGE Reference, 2017, pp. 1449-1452.
The copy of record is available from the publisher at https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-marriage-family-and-couples-counseling/book243467. Copyright © 2017 SAGE Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.