I recently read Rene Girard's "Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World".

He postulates the following theory of collective violence in the world. First, people form mimetic desire - they want things before other people also want and have them. Second, this mimetic desire results in a crisis - the collective actions of virtually everyone result in bad circumstances. Finally, in order to resolve this crisis, a scapegoat must be identified and subjected to collective violence. At this point, society can return to normal.

He wrote this book in 1978. I find it quite amazing how well it describes the financial crisis, and the post-crisis search for a scapegoat/villain.