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An Introduction to René Girard Part 1: Mimetic Desire
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An Introduction to René Girard Part 1: Mimetic Desire

Introduction

In this video, the speaker introduces himself as a pastor and academic who has spent a lot of time working with the theories of René Girard. He explains that Girard's ideas can be difficult to access and wants to provide an introduction to his work.

Who is René Girard?

The speaker introduces René Girard as an interesting theorist and theologian whose ideas are becoming more influential. However, he notes that Girard's primary sources can be hard to get into because they cover many topics such as human sociology, anthropology, religion, theology, and violence.

Core Ideas of René Girard

The speaker explains that he will discuss three core ideas of René Girard in this video series: desire, scapegoating and violence, and how these ideas relate to theology and Christianity.

Desire

  • Human beings learn how to desire things indirectly by imitating others.
  • This is not usually a problem unless resources are limited.
  • When two people want the same thing or when groups compete for limited resources, it leads to conflict and violence.
  • According to Girard, this is the fundamental human experience - constantly seeing each other imitating each other desiring what the other has.

Societies, Culture, and Cities

In this section, Gerard theorizes that societies break down and separate due to conflict and limited resources. He explains how tension can be mediated through differentiation or abundant resources. He introduces the concept of the generative scapegoat mechanism as a way for humans to move past tension.

Tension Mediation

  • Tension can be mediated by abundant resources or differentiation.
  • Differentiation occurs when individuals desire what others have but are separated by social status or geography.
  • Conflict arises when individuals compete for the same things and society is limited in its ability to grow beyond small social groups.

Generative Scapegoat Mechanism

  • The generative scapegoat mechanism is a way for humans to alleviate tension among them.
  • It involves focusing all of the conflict onto a single scapegoat or victim.
  • All underlying tensions between members of the group are let out in that moment.
  • This mechanism allows individuals to come together as a new larger group and move beyond small social units.

Examples of Scapegoating

In this section, Gerard provides examples of how scapegoating occurs in social settings.

Playground Example

  • Young boys on a playground may pick on the weakest or youngest kid to let out their tension towards each other.

Sports Fans Example

  • Leafs fans and Flames fans may disagree on everything except their shared dislike for Edmonton Oilers fans.
  • Finding a common enemy allows individuals to redirect their tension towards them and come together as a larger group.

Moving Beyond Small Social Units

In this section, Gerard explains how the generative scapegoat mechanism allows humans to move beyond small social units and develop into larger societies.

The First Murder

  • Gerard theorizes that the first murder was a spontaneous act of scapegoating.
  • All underlying tensions between members of the group were let out in that moment.
  • This allowed individuals to come together as a new larger group and move beyond small social units.

Conclusion

Gerard's theory on the generative scapegoat mechanism provides insight into how humans alleviate tension among themselves and move beyond small social units. Scapegoating occurs in various social settings, allowing individuals to redirect their tension towards a common enemy and come together as a larger group.

The Power of Humanity

In this section, the speaker discusses how humanity's ability to shape the world comes from our ability to exclude and scapegoat others. This is what allows us to move forward into the world with incredible power and ability.

The Original Sin

  • Humanity's accomplishments come from our ability to exclude and scapegoat another.
  • This is really our original sin - it's the murder of our brother, it's the ostracization of another.
  • We all now owe a debt to original sin not because somehow sin has passed down to us in a genetic way but socially we now live in a society that teaches us to imitate not only the desires that we see in each other but teaches us to imitate the generative scapegoat process that ostracizes another and derives power from it.

Society and Conflict

  • Every single one of us are born into a society that creates conflict by imitating desire and relieves that conflict by choosing an outsider and a scapegoat to push to the margins.
  • According to Gerard, pushing someone aside and outside is not only what gives us our ability to be society but also our original sin.
Video description

René Girard's theories on the mimetic relationship between violence and religion and the genesis and maintenance of culture have had a profound impact on many disciplines. The Colloquium on Violence and Religion gathers scholars across a wide range of fields including theology and biblical studies to study Girard’s work. In the past, scholars have used Girard's ideas to interpret and reinterpret Old and New Testaments texts. In this first part of a series, we are talking about memetic desire, the conflict it creates, and the ways we use scapegoats to alleviate the tension.