Successful scapegoating campaigns can intensify rather than abate.

Evidence

Finally, if ideological commitment is the proximal cause of scapegoating, an important implication follows. Older scapegoat theories assumed that the lessening of frustrations would decrease subsequent scapegoating. The current model suggests, however, that if the scapegoating movement itself is viewed as having improved general life conditions ( J), thereby “proving” its effectiveness, ideological commitment is likely to increase. For example, the Nazis’ economic successes in the 1930s increased Germans’ faith in Hitler’s policies, encouraging the Nazis to take increasingly harsh and, finally, murderous actions against the Jews. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1608

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s standing interest in sacrifice and scapegoating as stabilizing social mechanisms; the Nazi example parallels the sacrificial logic in ‘On Sacrifice: The Real Kind, with Corpses’ where persecution serves a perceived collective good.
• SEED: Angle: ‘the success trap’ of persecution — how perceived effectiveness legitimizes escalation, from Nazi Germany to modern moral panics.