Persecuted: Why We Need Scapegoats

The making of the modern scapegoat.

Who gets blamed when societies feel under threat and why? In Persecuted, journalism scholar Jack Lule examines the deep roots of scapegoating as essential to human society. Scapegoating helps explain how and why people unite, shaping the ways groups define belonging, exclusion, and collective identity.

Drawing on the work of Kenneth Burke and René Girard, Lule argues that scapegoating is not a social malfunction but a core mechanism through which communities are formed. Nations rely on scapegoating to draw boundaries between "us" and "them." What makes the modern era especially volatile, he contends, is the role of media―from early messengers and newspapers to contemporary social platforms―in manufacturing crises, amplifying accusations, identifying targets, and accelerating cycles of blame. Moving fluidly across history, theory, and contemporary politics, the book shows how media systems have increased the reach, speed, and intensity of scapegoating, often transforming local resentments into global networks of hate and hostility. Lule presents a sober analysis of how scapegoating persists precisely because it feels natural, justified, and invisible to those participating in it.

Persecuted is a concise, unsettling exploration of a process that underlies nationalism, moral panics, and political polarization. Its hope―tentative but urgent―is that recognizing the recurring power of scapegoating may help readers identify it in real time and resist its most destructive consequences.

Jack Lule is professor emeritus of journalism at Lehigh University. He is the author of Globalization and Media: Global Village of Babel; Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication; and Daily News, Eternal Stories: The Mythological Role of Journalism.