the practice of scapegoating or blaming a scapegoat
scapegoatism in American English
(ˈskeipɡouˌtɪzəm)
noun
the act or practice of assigning blame or failure to another, as to deflect attention or responsibility away from oneself
Also called: scapegoating
Word origin
[scapegoat + -ism]-ism is a suffix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form action nounsfrom verbs (baptism). On this model, -ism is used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice,state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion oradherence, etc. (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism; intellectualism)