The usefulness of the scapegoat and followers in “mobbing”

(Methodologies used in this post: analysis of speech acts and professional didactics)

Mobbing is based on fear and conformity.

The group leader operates in two ways:

-    Seduction to ensure the subordination of followers. He/she has chosen them for their search for a ‘strong (wo)man’ who will protect them; for their desire to shine alongside him/her and reap the benefits; for their amusement thanks to his/her boldness, humour and inventiveness.

- Their refuge in conformity. He/she has chosen them for their fear of loneliness, which they dread above all else; for their self-serving obedience; for their frustration and jealousy; for their inability to question appearances in order to seek reality; for their blind obedience to the narrative and ideology he/she feeds them with.

The bully chooses a scapegoat to assert his/her power over others and to build a group of courtiers whom he/she can manipulate: they will become the ones who act on his/her behalf and carry out his/her actions, thereby allowing him/her to avoid responsibility. They will serve as his/her shield. The scapegoat will serve as a screen to hide his/her own weaknesses.

Thus, the bully uses his/her authority to lay down rules and change them as often as possible so that his/her followers and the scapegoat have no points of reference. Indeed, those who have points of reference begin to think for themselves and become capable of distancing themselves from the situation. The bully also creates a semblance of community on unhealthy foundations, a false community that cannot compensate for the isolation in which he/she keeps his/her followers. If they unite, if they like each other, they become a force to be eliminated. Rivalry, whether open or hidden, is the rule among followers.

When the usual scapegoat is no longer there, the bully will look for another one... and often among his/her courtiers. This is how a follower becomes a victim, especially if he/she threatens to take an important position: there cannot be two suns in the same sky. The bully knows neither friendship nor solidarity and will also choose the naive loyalist, the one who obeys and believes that he/she is protected. For the bully, every individual is a disposable object, so anything goes.

Mobbing, as a form of systemic violence aimed at destroying certain individuals, bears many similarities to what Dr Ariane Bilheran describes in her book: Psychopathology of Totalitarianism (2023).

Understanding what is at stake is already a first step towards self-respect. This first step opens up a whole new horizon.