The idea of the scapegoat sits at the crossroads of psychology, religion, and culture. Both Carl Jung and René Girard grappled with this ancient human reflex, but from radically different starting points. Where Jung explored the scapegoat as a psychological mechanism rooted in projection and the Shadow, Girard saw scapegoating as the foundational structure of human culture itself.
Where Jung looked inward, Girard looked outward. Yet at key moments, their insights converge in surprising and provocative ways.
JUNG’S SHADOWY SCAPEGOAT WITHIN
For Jung, scapegoating begins in the psyche.
Central to Jung’s psychology is the concept of the Shadow: the rejected or unconscious aspects of the self. What we refuse to acknowledge in ourselves does not disappear; it gets projected outward onto others.
As Jung writes:
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
This is scapegoating in psychological form. We externalize what we cannot face internally. The enemy, the heretic, the immoral one, all of these often carry the traits we have suppressed most within ourselves.
This is like when Jesus urges us to “First, take care of the plank in your own eye, (and) then you will see clearly to help your brother remove the speck in his eye.” (Matt. 7:5) The “evil” things that bother us so much about other people are often the very weaknesses and failures we ourselves struggle with. What we hate about others is that their failures are so poorly hidden, and it makes us fearful that others might notice those same failures in us, so we lash out at their weaknesses as a way of distracting everyone from our own inner weakness.
Projection as Personal and Collective Mechanism
Jung did not limit projection to individuals. Entire societies, he argued, can project their Shadow onto minority groups, political enemies, or outsiders. Writing in the shadow of World War II, Jung warned that Nazism was a massive eruption of the collective Shadow in Europe.
For Jung, Scapegoating is unconscious projection where the “evil other” carries our disowned darkness. Our healing requires the integration of our own Shadow.
The work is psychological and spiritual. Redemption comes not by destroying the scapegoat, but by recognizing: “That darkness is mine.”
What’s also fascinating, is that this approach seems to suggest that the evil we see “out there” in the world around us is reflective of our own inner self. Since none of us can ever change anyone else, it makes more sense to heal the shadow within ourselves as a way of healing the world.
When we change, the world changes. That’s how transformation takes place.
GIRARD’S CULTURAL SCAPEGOAT
If Jung begins with the psyche, Girard begins with anthropology.
Girard’s groundbreaking theory of mimetic desire argues that humans learn what to want by imitating others. This imitation leads to rivalry. Rivalry escalates into conflict. When conflict threatens to tear a community apart, the group unconsciously resolves the crisis by uniting against a single victim—the scapegoat.
In I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, Girard writes:
“The scapegoat mechanism is the single most powerful instrument for the resolution of human conflict.”
For Girard, desire is imitative (mimetic), and mimetic rivalry produces social chaos. Communities restore peace by collectively blaming and eliminating a victim.
Unlike Jung, Girard does not see scapegoating primarily as projection of inner darkness. It is a structural social mechanism—a way societies generate unity through shared violence.
However, it can still be true that the social mechanism of collective scapegoating is a product of our own individual scapegoating.
For example, we all remember when Trump was running for President in this first term how every single other Republican candidate for President went on record that Trump was “a kook” and that he was “crazy” and that he was “unfit for office” and a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” They said if we wanted to “make a America Great Again, we should tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” (And that’s just Lyndsey Graham speaking).
So, what was happening? Were they all seeing reflected back from Trump a clear image of all the flaws and failures they subconsciously knew was true about themselves? Were they pushing back against Trump’s blatant flaws and failures that mirrored their own inner darkness?
Well, if we fast forward to 2026, what we notice is that the same Republican Party (and all the very same people who denounced Trump’s moral failures) are now defending those very same flaws and failures in their own party, as well as in their President.
The things they hated about him are now being revealed as the very flaws they were also trying to hide.
The Innocent Victim and Revelation
Rene Girard’s ideas about Mimetic Theory and Scapegoating are deeply theological. He argues that the Hebrew Scriptures—and ultimately the crucifixion of Jesus—expose and dismantle the scapegoat mechanism.
As he points out, in ancient myths, the victim is portrayed as guilty. In the Gospels, the victim is revealed as innocent. For Girard, the cross unmasks scapegoating itself.
This is why it says that “…We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age (or the “powers of darkness”) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. 2:7-8)
However, once we have murdered the Son of God on the cross, our own inner darkness is revealed and we are undone.
This darkness is ours.
OVERLAPPING PERSPECTIVES
Despite their different disciplines, Jung and Girard share striking parallels:
Both see Scapegoating as an unconscious mechanism. Neither believes scapegoating is usually deliberate. It operates beneath awareness, whether in the psyche (Jung) or in social structures (Girard).
Both recognize the collective power of scapegoating. Jung spoke of collective projection, and Girard spoke of communal violence. Both understood that groups can become possessed by forces larger than individual intention.
Both connect Scapegoating to Religion. Jung explored archetypes embedded in myth and religion. Girard argued that religion itself originates in scapegoat violence, and that Biblical faith uniquely reveals, critiques it, and subverts it.
CRUCIAL DIFFERENCES
Jung believed that the problem is one of internal division. Girard taught that the problem is mimetic rivalry within communities. Jung focused on individuation and the integration of the Shadow self, while Girard emphasized the transformation of social structures that rely upon victimization to thrive.
The role of the victim, for Jung, is to become a projection of our inner Shadow. For Girard, the victim is central for revealing the collective evil within social structures.
The Solution
Both Jung and Girard believed there was a way out of our problem. Jung believed the answer was to face and to integrate our Shadow self, following the teachings of Jesus to “love our enemy as we love ourselves.” Girard believed that the answer was toe renounce mimetic rivalry and refuse the scapegoat mechanism, following the nonviolent example of Christ.
Jung’s path is therapeutic and symbolic. Girard’s is ethical and communal. But both are speaking of very similar paths.
If we overlay their frameworks, something fascinating appears:
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Jung explains why individuals project.
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Girard explains how projection becomes social violence.
One might say Jung gives us the psychology of scapegoating, while Girard gives us its sociology.
Both ultimately call for awareness:
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Jung: “Make peace with your inner Shadow”
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Girard: “Refuse to accept the lie about the victim.”
Both insist that peace requires confronting the uncomfortable truth, either within ourselves or within our communal myths.
WHY THIS MATTERS
In today’s hyper-polarized age, scapegoating feels almost instinctive. Political tribes demonize one another. Social media amplifies collective outrage. Communities unify around shared enemies.
Jung would ask: What are we projecting?
Girard would ask: Who is the victim we are uniting against?
Together, they offer a sobering diagnosis: We scapegoat because we are divided, both within and among ourselves.
They both offer a hopeful path forward: Awareness breaks the spell.
Integrating our Shadow weakens our projection of evil onto others.
Recognizing the collective projection of the scapegoat mechanism helps us resist its power.
In that space of recognition—psychological and social—something like grace becomes possible.
Jung reminds us that the scapegoat lives in the unconscious depths of the human heart. Girard reminds us that the scapegoat stands in the center of the crowd.
Perhaps wisdom lies in holding both truths at once: The violence we condemn outside us may arise from what we refuse to face within us.
Or, as Jesus said in the Gospel of Thomas: “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” (Saying 70)
Quantum Theology: Volume One brings together an extraordinary and diverse group of scientists, mathematicians, theologians, mystics, authors, and cultural commentators to explore one of the most provocative conversations of our time: What happens when Quantum Physics and Theology begin to overlap?
Edited and curated by author Keith Giles, this book explores the intersection between science and faith.
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