The Oldest Trick in the Book

Beschreibung

This book investigates the normalization of blame-shifting within ideological discourse as a broad feature of history, working from Churchill’s truism that history is written by the victors. To that end, it explores historical episodes of political persecution carried out under cover of moral panic, highlighting the process of ‘Othering’ common to each and theorising a historical model of panic-driven scapegoating from the results. Building this model from case studies in witch panic, communist panic and terrorist panic respectively, The Oldest Trick in the Book builds an argument that features common to each case study reflect broader historical patterning consistent with Churchill’s maxim. On this basis it argues that the periodic construction of bogeymen or ‘folk demons’ is a useful device for enabling the kind of victim-playing and victim-blaming critical to protecting elite privilege during periods of crisis and that in being a recurring theme historically, panic-driven scapegoating retains great ongoing value to the privileged and powerful, and thus conspicuously remains an ongoing feature of world politics.
Ben M. Debney is a doctoral candidate in History at Western Sydney University, Bankstown, Australia. His research investigates the origins and outcomes of capital accumulation as they relate to the climate crisis, with specific focus on the relationship between ‘primitive accumulation’ or ‘accumulation by dispossession’ and the phenomenon of 'Othering', manifesting most typically as misogyny and racism. 

This book investigates the normalisation of blame-shifting within ideological discourse as a broad feature of history, working from Churchill’s truism that history is written by the victors. To that end, it explores historical episodes of political persecution carried out under cover of moral panic, highlighting the process of ‘Othering’ common to each and theorising a historical model of panic-driven scapegoating from the results. Building this model from case studies in witch panic, communist panic and terrorist panic respectively, The Oldest Trick in the Book builds an argument that features common to each case study reflect broader historical patterning consistent with Churchill’s maxim. On this basis it argues that the periodic construction of bogeymen or ‘folk demons’ is a useful device for enabling the kind of victim-playing and victim-blaming critical to protecting elite privilege during periods of crisis and that in being a recurring theme historically, panic-driven scapegoating retains great ongoing value to the privileged and powerful, and thus conspicuously remains an ongoing feature of world politics.

Establishes moral panics as the driving force for scapegoating and persecution in history by demonstrating historical linkages between various manifestations of elite crisis management and common purposes in scapegoating Establishes panic-driven scapegoating as the principle means by which elites avoid accountability for the social, economic and other consequences of their own existence as a class Establishes panic-driven scapegoating as a discourse with five distinct stages: (1) Mobilisation, (2) Targeting, (3) Legitimation, (4) Persecution and (5) Restoration Establishes a unique and discernible logic characterising this discourse and points to one of the primary means by which history continues to repeat itself

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Ben M. Debney

Themen in »The Oldest Trick in the Book«

Persecution in history Panic-driven scapegoating Stages of scapegoating Blameshifting Resurgence of the far-right and populism

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