Scapegoating in Post 'Celtic Tiger'ireland: Framing Blame In
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sociology AT UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK sociology AT UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK sociology sociology UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK AT UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK University of Limerick Department of Sociology Working Paper Series sociology UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK Working Paper WP2013-06 August 2013 Lee Monaghan1, Micheal O’Flynn1,2, Martin J. Power1, 1Department of Sociology, University of Limerick 2Open University, Ireland Scapegoating in Post ‘Celtic Tiger’ Ireland: Framing Blame in Crisis Times Available at http://www.ul.ie/sociology/pubs/wp2013-06.pdf Scapegoating in Post ‘Celtic Tiger’ Ireland: Framing Blame in Crisis Times Lee F. Monaghan, Micheal O’Flynn and Martin J. Power Abstract Irish society continues to reel in the aftershock of the 2008 glo!al "nancial crisis, #articularly since the go$ernment socialised the massive liabilities of #rivate !anks. Sensitized to antagonistic social relations using grou# conflict theory, frame analysis and Marxian informed critique, this #aper reflects on some of the corrosive social conse*uences of the crisis. In #articular, we interrogate hegemonic discourses which scapegoat $arious targets, such as pu!lic sector workers and social welfare recipients. While scapegoating is understood anthro#ologically as the ,transference of e$il’ our sociological interest is in the transference of !lame and #rivately accumulated de!t as #art of a class #ro-ect that has ser$ed "nance capital and its re#resentatives so well. In conclusion, we suggest that Ireland ser$es as an exam#le of the #ower and dominance of the "nancial sector under late capitalism, and of the ideological means !y which its socially corrosive ends are currently facilitated. 1 Keywords: conflict; economic crisis; finance capital; frame analysis; scapegoating. Introduction: From ‘Ban er Bas!ing’ to Predatory Finance Capital /he #olicy decisions following the collapse of the so-called ,1eltic /iger’ in 2008 demonstrate the extent to which wealthy and influential grou#s ha$e !een able to o2oad the costs of the glo!al "nancial crisis 34F15 onto others. Ireland’s crisis also o6ers a $alua!le case study on the #rocesses of ideological rationalisation that acco%#any #redatory "nance capital, making clear that as economic crises unfold, o##ressed grou#s are all too often treated as con$enient scapegoats for the ills of a glo!alised syste% that is de$ouring itself 3/icktin 2009). /he une%#loyed, #u!lic sector workers and immigrants are usual targets in Ireland, as elsewhere, as co%#etition intensifies o$er resource allocation. Similarly, later entrants into the #ro#erty !u!!le, who now "nd they can no longer kee# u# mortgage re#ayments (especially after wages were slashed and une%#loyment ra#idly increased5 "nd themsel$es !eing held culpable for their ,irresponsible’ (sic5 !orrowing. /his is despite well docu%ented control frauds within the "nancial sector, including the deliberate issuance of !ad loans, which resulted in ram#ant asset #rice inflation in the U&9 and beyond (Black 2005). 2 9t the same time, we would a$oid re#roducing those ,fantasmatic logics’ 34lynos et al. 2012) that socially construct a select few elites as diversionary scapegoats, that is, the ap#eal of sim#ly !laming narrowly logical targets such as e)ecutives of !ailed-out !anks. Indeed, we recognise the limitations of ,!anker !ashing’ not least !ecause it is individualising and sociological attention must !e directed at !roader structured relations, logics and discourses. Indeed, we would flag the de0#oliticising character of ,!anker !ashing’ and how those facilitating the !ail-out of the "nancial sector are among the %ost eager to #articipate in the #ractice. 4erman 1hancellor 9ngela Merkel, for exa%#le, recently e)#ressed ,outrage’ on hearing the 9nglo tapes (a series of taped con$ersations !etween senior e)ecutives at 9nglo Irish :ank, made #u!lic in June 2013) 3&herrard 2013). /he tapes suggest that !ankers #lanned to load the Irish state with !illions of >uros worth of #rivate de!t, re*uiring necessary dece#tions of #oliticians and central !ank o?cials. /he fact that ,!anker !ashing’ is an individualising and de0#oliticising reaction to the crisis #ermitted Merkel to e)#ress moral indignation and ap#arent outrage at the callous attitude toward the >uro#ean taxpayer, while at the same time presiding over the bailout of European banks at public expense. Likewise, a leading Irish #olitician, /ánaiste (De#uty Prime Minister5 >amon 4ilmore, said the tapes were ,disgusting’, that they showed the ,arrogance’, ,conte%#t’ and ,sheer greed’ of senior e)ecutives at 9nglo Irish :ank (the-ournal.ie, 2013). Bowe$er, apart fro% the flip#ant and o6ensive tone of the tapes, 4ilmore did not condemn the !ankers’ economic interests 3the socialisation of massive #rivate 3 de!ts) as ,disgusting’. In fact 4ilmore e)#ressed relief that the 9nglo tapes had not e%erged earlier, since they might ha$e -eo#ardised the Irish go$ernment’s de!t-deal negotiations with >uro#ean authorities 0 the same negotiations that ha$e !urdened current and future generations with #aying o6 9nglo’s de!t to >uro#ean !anks and #rivate bondholders (WNS Re#orter 2013). /he o##ortunism that characterises ,!anker !ashing’ is only one strand of a much more elaborate and corrosive system, e)#lored further in our #aper. 9t a time when a transnational ,feral o$erclass’ (a hard core of "nanciers, e)ecutives and their re#resentatives) (Scam!ler and Scambler 2012: 2.5) are running amok, we are concerned with how wa$es of o##ro!riu% are !eing heaped onto the denizens of odiously inde!ted nations who ha$e largely !een constructed as !lameworthy. In #articular, #eo#le who would ha$e for%erly !een considered ,working class’ are !eing socially constructed as #arasitic on a syste% that can ill-a6ord the% and which is groaning under the weight of their ,unreasonable demands’ (e.g. the desire for decent e%#loyment o##ortunities, healthcare, education, #ension #ro$ision and social security). In this #aper, we go some way towards critiquing all-too-common e6orts to construct easy scapegoats in these crisis times. Our discussion will !e ela!orated with reference to #ost ,1eltic /iger’ Ireland, where the toxic fallout fro% the 4F1 is se$erely im#acting civil society 39llen 2009; McDonough and Loughrey 2009). Bowe$er, as we will e)#lain, our #aper is also intended to ha$e wider 4 resonance when interrogating an interconnected ,world system’ 3+allerstein <7 =5 of e)#loitative class relations and ideological "ctions where it is not only Ireland’s (new) poor and marginalised who risk vilification. Scapegoating: The Secular ‘Trans"erence o" E$il’ in Late Capitalist Societies /he word scapegoating is derived fro% religious #ractice aimed at taking away the sins of the world (Frazer 1919). In !iblical stories it in$ol$ed the ritual transfer of e$il to a live goat, fro% which the #rocess gets its name 34irard 1989). 9nthro#ologists ha$e o!ser$ed this ,transference of e$il’ across a range of cultures, in$ol$ing animals, inanimate o!-ects and, all too often #eo#le 3or grou#s of #eo#le). In certain regions, such as in #arts of su!-Saharan 9frica where witchcraft is still #racticed, those labelled as witches are killed with the $iew to warding o6 misfortune (Miguel 2005). Signi"cantly, the nu%!er of such killings tends to increase when a calamitous situation (i.e. a drought or disease5 suddenly and drastically im#acts on the fortunes of a community. Detailed analysis of the #ro!le% as it affects rural /anzania concludes that se$ere income shocks are the key cause of sudden increases in murders of elderly women accused of witchcraft. /y#ically, when extre%e rainfall negatively im#acts income there is a dou!ling of witch murders (Miguel 2005). 5 Here, we are concerned with the forms of scapegoating that e%erge inde#endently of religious #ractices and rituals, !ut that likewise ap#ear to flourish under conditions of economic hardship and exacer!ated insecurities. +ith the 4F1 as our !ackdro#, we are %ost concerned with the processes that facilitate the channelling of !lame away fro% one social grou# (usually the %ost #owerful and influential) towards su!ordinated and marginalised grou#s. Periodic instances of ,!anker !ashing’ aside (and occasional punishment of ‘de$iant cases’ such as Bernard Mado6 in the 8&9 who constructed a FG;!n #onzi scheme and who could in fact !e $iewed as the tip of an ice!erg. see self reference 2012), it is those grou#s lower down the social hierarchy who are %ost $ulnerable to the fallout fro% the 4F1 as #owerful grou#s seek to defend the status *uo. 9ccordingly, we are concerned with scapegoating as it relates to and facilitates the on-going redistri!ution of wealth as the #u!lic gaze is focused on certain grou#s of #eo#le who are $ili"ed for their alleged o6ences against the moral and sy%!olic order of society. Hence, we are #rimarily interested in scapegoating in its secular sense and in the context of the crises of late capitalism, with close attention to its de$elo#ment in the wake of Ireland’s econo%ic collapse. Of course, as indicated abo$e, the #rocess of scapegoating and the conditions underlying this #rocess are not specific to any #articular nation state. Furthermore, attention cannot !e limited to economically underde$elo#ed nations where #eo#le’s 6 immediate livelihoods are especially $ulnerable to the $agaries of the weather and infectious diseases. For exa%#le, research in the 8&9 and >uro#e has identified self-interest and resource co%#etition as key reasons for hostility towards other grou#s in society 3:o!o <7 , >spenshade and He%#stead <77G).