Instiutional collapse obliterates or telescopes hierarchical and functional differences, so that everything has the same monotonous and monstruous aspect. The impression of difference in a society that is not in a state of crisis is the result of real diversity and also of a system of exchange that 'differentiaties' and therefore conceals the reciprocal elements it contains by its very cultrue and by the nature of exchange. Marriages for example, or consumer goods, are not clearly perceived as exchanges. When a society breaks down, time sequences shorten. Not only is there an acceleration of the tempo of positive exchanges that continue only when absolutely indespensible, as in barter for example, but also the hostile or 'negative' exchanges tend to increase. The reciprocity of negative rather than positive exchanges becomes foreshortened as it becomes more visible, as witnessed in the reciprocity of insults, blows, revenge, and neurotic symptoms. That is why traditional cultures shun a too immediate reciprocity.
violence and magic
There is nothing in mythico-ritual religions that does not unfold logically from the fact that the scapegoat mechanism functions on a higher order than in history. There was good reason for past ethnology to assume a close relationship between myths and rituals, but the enigma of this relationship never resolved because it was never understood that the phenomena of persecution provided both the model and the countermodel for every religious institution.
The Scapegoat
Rene Girard
Johns Hopkins, 1989
261.8331 G518s
Girard developed the scapegoat mechanism concept much more extensively as an interpretation of human culture. In Girard's view, it is humankind, not God, who has the problem with violence. Humans are driven by desire for that which another has or wants (mimetic desire). This causes a triangulation of desire and results in conflict between the desiring parties. This mimetic contagion increases to a point where society is at risk; it is at this point that the scapegoat mechanism is triggered. This is the point where one person is singled out as the cause of the trouble and is expelled or killed by the group. This person is the scapegoat. Social order is restored as people are contented that they have solved the cause of their problems by removing the scapegoated individual, and the cycle begins again. The keyword here is "content", scapegoating serves as a psychological relief for a group of people. Girard contends that this is what happened in the case of Jesus. The difference in this case, Girard believes, is that he was resurrected from the dead and shown to be innocent; humanity is thus made aware of its violent tendencies and the cycle is broken. Satan, who is seen to be manifested in the contagion, is cast out. Thus Girard's work is significant as a re-construction of the Christus Victor atonement theory. -wiki