The Power of the Powerless: The Rise of the Economic Scapegoat

In Europe during the Middle Ages, lepers and vagrants were often assumed to have nefarious supernatural powers. The thinking was that too much exposure to the riff-raff would cause your hands to fall off, or your baby to die, or your wife to go mad. And if the local burgermeister couldn't get it up with his mistress-wench, it must have been because that withered crone who begs outside his door had placed a hex upon him.

The reason for this odd logic, according to some historians, is that as cities grew, a permanent underclass developed that freaked out the respectable people. The upper classes feared these cretins who dressed in rags, and to deal with this dread of the unknown (or to assuage their guilt for not helping those less fortunate than themselves), they claimed that the wretches only appeared weak. So the myth grew that some manic with no teeth and gangrenous limbs could take you out if you weren't careful.

We're much more civilized today, of course, and we don't blame the poor for our calamities - well, except for all those homeless guys who are making downtown unsafe... and the welfare recipients who continue to sponge the system... and those illegal immigrants who are stealing our livelihoods... and...

Wait a minute.

Yes, we do indeed go after those who can't possibly compete with the middle and upper classes. If we're fortunate enough to achieve a certain level of comfort, but that final rung on the economic ladder is too slippery to grasp, we blame our distress on the equivalent of Middle Age witches.

This blaming necessitates the really nifty trick or assessing that someone has no power, and therefore won't fight back, and then ascribing enormous power to them. The tactic is especially common in prosperous societies, where people have more possessions and, therefore, have more to lose.

A crazy homeless guy ranting about God reminds us of our potential to bottom out more than it would in say, Sierra Leone, where poverty is a widespread fact of life.

Similarly (and most importantly from this blogger's perspective) a team of illegal immigrants clambering over the neighbor's roof, laboring mightily in the summer sun, invokes a fear in middle-class Americans that these hard-working strangers are willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead - and that means they're coming for our nice cars and fancy televisions and 80GB ipods and crème brûlée torches (by the way, this last item is real and exists solely for people who have way too much disposable income).

It's been pointed out that immigrants are often the boogeyman for societal problems. Just look at Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" to see how despised the Irish were.

So now it's the Latino's turn to be scorned and feared.

Naturally, there are clear objections to the idea that illegal immigrants are modern-day scapegoats. Foremost among them is that undocumented workers are not cost-free to the economy. And of course, they are as capable of criminal behavior as native-born Americans are. So negative reactions to illegal immigrants are not solely based upon made-up superstitions.

However, the depths of hatred for these individuals, and the vast influence ascribed to them, boggles the mind. Any sensible discussion of immigration reform is doomed once it's declared that a guy making sub-minimum wage who lives in constant fear of deportation is really the secret strongman.

And such loathing is more likely to erupt in times of economic distress or uncertainty. So it's a good thing that we're going gangbusters prosperity right now, otherwise I would be worried.

As for me, I'm going to try to take more responsibility for my issues - unless of course I can turn this around and blame someone much, much more powerful than me, like the government or Wall Street or the Bavarian Illuminati.

OK, now I'm on to something.

Comments

[PhilTeach]

Permit me to add a new scapegoat to the list. Organized workers. We now hear that the problems faced by the auto industry are due to workers who organized to have a voice at the table. It seems that our problems with the economy is being blammed on individuals who worked for 30+ years, and earned a pention. The auto industry, and the wheels of manufactoring are failing, not due to ubridle, unregulated, speculative market greed but instead because we believe that workers should be seen as persons with the right to fair wages, affordable insurance and a reasonable retirement plan.

[Sundialsvc4]

Daniel, you make your points very convincingly. Let me offer one counter-point that I believe is also quite relevant in addition to yours.

Many people don't know that, in the days leading up to the Civil War and in fact during it, there were more slaves in the Chesapeake Bay area than there were in the more sparsely-populated Southern states. Factory owners bitterly opposed the inclusion of the phrase "or involuntary servitude" in the Amendment that outlawed slavery, knowing full-well that it would forbid their own peculiar variant of "the peculiar institution," which were euphemistically called indentured servants.

We call them "undocumented aliens." And it's not like they can really waltz up to Immigration and request or secure those documents. That's because they're ... slaves. Pure and simple.

Countries around the planet do much the same as this. Sometimes they have laws against it; sometimes not. Nevertheless they will not be enforced. So, it may not be so much that we "fear them," but that we as a society do not wish to acknowledge them. "To look them in their eye, and thus be made to call them 'a man' like we."

[BeeOplentee]

There will always be a need for a servile class to cater to everyone else. It's as ingrained as women wearing earrings or young men spoiling for a fight.

[joebiz]

Daniel, as a fan, I see you slipping and digging deep for issues to write about.

As to your contention, I really don't see a lot of backlash against immigrants doing crappy manual labor. You know, the lawn mower jockeys, lettuce pickers, ditch diggers, maids and janitors.

It seems that many of these immigrants, mojados/pollos, in their parlance, haven't seen what the 90s were like in California with Prop 187. Tired to deny basic services to undocumented. Governor Pete Wilson was later acknowledged as the "best organizer and recruiter" for the California Democratic Party partly because of the backlash against this prop.

Sure, all tough economic times have scapegoats, but during this round, it has hit all levels of social classes and economic temperments.

Other than that, keep on writing your posts.

[jeffrey678]

The trade agreements need to be renegotiated to raise the standard of living in all countries. We have to stop the race to the bottom ! I trust President Obama to do the job right !

[Yermammy]

It's a shame immigrants are put down the way they are now. My people could have had that attitude and YOU ALL wouldn't BE HERE. Lighten up on our brothers to the south.