René Girard

stipulated the "mimetic" theory, or the "mimetic desire" that people tend to want the same thing as other people,
- people do not fight over their differences but rather because they are the same and want the same things,
- people want what would incite envy in other people,
- jealousy and rivalry are inevitable sources of social tension,
freedom implies risk such that people tend to look at others to make up their mind on what they desire,
societies unify themselves by focusing their imitative desires on the destruction of a scapegoat,
- (Jesus) not as paying a debt to God, but rather because the victim of a mob is always innocent and collective violence is unjust,

Derivative Ideas

probably the closest explanation of "memes" due to his imitative theory, where imagery is meant to reveal the persecution of a victim by mimicking behaviour,
"Girardian trap" can denote a state that leads to societal destabilization due to over-competition; for instance, students competing chaotically, employees given the same task and raced to finish, etc.