The significance of Scapegoating and "The Lottery"

In the short story "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson explores the unfortunate reality of a greedy, selfish, and self-centered society. The story was written in the 1940's when capitalism was gaining ground and the country seemed to embrace the dog-eat-dog mentality. Much like when Jesus was crucified for the atonement of man's sins, Tessie Hutchinson was selected to be stoned to death as a symbol of "the one" that must die for the sake of others. The town needed a scapegoat; someone to symbolize that a non-productive member of society has no place and therefore must be sacraficed. A kind of weeding-out process; the weak must die to make room for the strong, hard-working members. Mrs. Hutchinson was late for the event because she was "doing her dishes". Hardly an event that contributes to society as a whole, as far as the important people were concerned; not like a Postman or the Mayor, she was simply a housewife. The story exemplifies a heartless society who wants this process to "hurry up" so they can "get back to work". A society void of feelings toward one another, void of compassion and empathy. Tessie's husband did not step forward and offer himself as a sacrafice in her place, this is not how it was done. Even old man Warner who'd been coming to this annual even for 70 years did not feel the process should be changed, he was numb to the cruelty of it all.
They all accepted the stoning "lottery" as a way of life. Much like society today, they did not
want to get involved in making changes to eliminate this murderous freak show, as long as they weren't the ones picked, they were all ok with it.