Rumor mongering: scapegoating techniques for social cohesion and coping among the Japanese-Americans in United States internment camps during World War II
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis examines the linkages between the verbal response to social stress, \nthe ostracism of individuals from a social group, and the subsequent increased cohesion \nof the remaining members. To write the thesis, I utilized these printed references in the \nforms of scholarly research, journals, diaries, and interviews primarily from the Texas \nA&M Sterling Evans Library and the online journal resource JSTOR as well as a video \ndocumentary. Previous research into the genres of rumor, identity, and scapegoat \naccusations are explicated. Then, these approaches are applied to the rumors told by the \nJapanese-Americans who were removed from their homes and sent to internment camps \nin the United States during World War II. The internment camps were rife with \nscapegoat accusations between the internees whose once unified culture group was \nfissured along lines of loyalty to the United States or to Japan. These scapegoat \naccusations against fellow internees were an outlet for the stress exerted upon them by \nthe American government that was not directly combatable. Even processes as complicated as changing social dynamics can be observed through the mechanisms of \nrumors and scapegoat accusations.
Author: Jenny Catherine Biggs
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2296644547