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Description:
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This thesis examines the linkages between the verbal response to social stress ,
the ostracism of individuals from a social group , and the subsequent increased cohesion
of the remaining members . To write the thesis , I utilized these printed references in the
forms of scholarly research , journals , diaries , and interviews primarily from the Texas
A &M Sterling Evans Library and the online journal resource JSTOR as well as a video
documentary . Previous research into the genres of rumor , identity , and scapegoat
accusations are explicated . Then , these approaches are applied to the rumors told by the
Japanese -Americans who were removed from their homes and sent to internment camps
in the United States during World War II . The internment camps were rife with
scapegoat accusations between the internees whose once unified culture group was
fissured along lines of loyalty to the United States or to Japan . These scapegoat
accusations against fellow internees were an outlet for the stress exerted upon them by
the American government that was not directly combatable . Even processes as complicated as changing social dynamics can be observed through the mechanisms of
rumors and scapegoat accusations . |