Politics of Envy

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Our culture wants to destroy those we used to hail as heroes. This is a further step of envy. Not only does it drive us to destroy those around us who are great, it also tries to convince us that those we used to hail as heroes had no goodness in them at all. If we are to combat envy, however, we must look to heroes. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon Repeatedly being told that one is not keeping up with the Joneses makes one more inclined to embrace materialism to establish an illusion of wealth. This is the attitude of the individual who doesn’t want to lift himself up but, instead, wants to pull everyone else down to his level.

When it really happens that the just man remains just even toward those who have harmed him… when the exalted, clear objectivity, as penetrating as it is mild, of the eye of justice and judging is not dimmed even under the assault of personal injury, derision, and calumny, this is a piece of perfection and supreme mastery on earth… Getting married and staying married would help put low-income Americans on the path to upward mobility. Government could take an active, positive role in promoting marriage by removing tax and welfare rules that penalize it. Political scientist James Q. Wilson has called for the "Department of Health and Human Services [to] launch an ambitious program . . . to identify and test marriage promoting programs so that those that work can be widely advertised." Research by Kathryn L. Shaw suggests that education encourages greater risk taking because individuals with education can better weigh the expected costs and benefits of an action. A practical example of risk enhancing income is willingness to move from a place of low opportunity (i.e., high unemployment) to one where jobs are more plentiful. Another helpful suggestion, in light of the troubled economy, comes from Alberto Alesina of Harvard and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago, who state, "There is no better way to encourage [people to take more risk] than a temporary elimination of the capital-gains tax." Another possibility is that the differences in envy across age groups are due to cohort effects rather than to developmental changes. It may be that socio-cultural differences across generations have led to younger people being more prone to envious reactions than their older counterparts, e.g., through greater emphasis on equity or differences in high self-esteem (see Gentile et al., 2010; Twenge and Foster, 2010, for suggestions of cohort effects in self-esteem). Whether any of these possibilities could account for our observed decline in enviousness with age would be worthy of future investigation. Limitations and Future ResearchDespite Bertrand Russell’s demeaning comments about Alexander the Great, Caesar, and Napoleon, these men stand out in history. They did not let their envy lead them; they turned it to their good. Instead of continuing in envy, they rose to the call of greatness. In focusing attention on relative disparities, we encourage people to resent others’ good fortune, hard work, or income. In summary, the data described here found weak support for the widespread contention that envy and political liberalism are linked, and suggested that what linkage exists is principally due to the tendency of envy to weaken with age (with liberalism weakening somewhat over the same period). However, the relationship between political ideology and sentiments such as envy and resentment is potentially multifaceted and complex, so the topic deserves further empirical study. It is hoped the present article may help spark interest in this potentially rich area of investigation. Conflict of Interest Statement

It is a similar story in the UK. Another survey from last week shows the pay of FTSE 100 chief executives rose six times as fast as those of the wider workforce in 2017. In a year when prices rising faster than earnings meant living standards fell for the bulk of the population, those running the biggest quoted companies saw their remuneration going up by 11%. In 1908, University of Berlin historian Dietrich Schafer wrote a scathing evaluation aimed at preventing Georg Simmel, one of the founders of modern sociology, from being given an academic chair at the University of Heidelberg. The son of Jewish converts, Georg Simmel, whose work is still widely read and respected by sociologists and political philosophers today, was described by Schaefer as “an Israelite through and through, in his external appearance, his demeanor, and the character of his intellect.” Envious and resentful descriptions of Simmel’s talents were woven throughout Schafer’s evaluation of the popular lecturer, who was accused of possessing a “pseudointellectual manner” that is “greatly valued by certain circles of listeners in Berlin.””

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Indeed, in his treatment of the sin of hatred in SummaTheologiae Part II-II, Question 34 , Aquinas identifies envy as its chief source. He says that “since envy is sorrow for our neighbor's good, it follows that our neighbor's good becomes hateful to us, so that ‘out of envy cometh hatred.’” What can we do to turn this ship around? I don’t know. Instinct tells me that serious changes are needed in our public school systems. Civics and History need to be taught. Our students must learn how our country was founded and why. That won’t be enough, though. Moral decay is rotting society from the inside out. Personal responsibility is a foreign concept to a large chunk of our population.

There is a point in the history of society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining “punishment” and “being supposed to punish” hurts it, arouses fear in it. “Is it not enough to render him undangerous? Why still punish? Punishing itself is terrible.” With this question, herd morality, the morality of timidity, draws its ultimate consequence. (p. 201) And, as Girard would have predicted, reducing the number of unmarried men reduces the envy-driven competition for female partners and thus reduces the incidence of rape, murder, assault, robbery, and fraud in societies that value pair-bonding enough to encourage it.119 In some ways, the Incels are correct in their assertion that the Chads are capturing the highest-status women — leaving little for the rest. But, as the following chapters will point out, in a chaotic society like ours, most women are not the winners in this competition either." In Envy in Politics, McClendon shows that envy affects political behavior in varied and interesting ways that political scientists have previously ignored. This thought-provoking and important book is a very good read."—Ruth Grant, Duke University A vast number of writers have contended that liberal political doctrines reflect and appeal to enviousness on the part of voters. According to the Newsbank database, in the past 5 years there have been 621 references to the phrase “politics of envy” in US newspapers included in the database. In a typical reference of this kind, advocates of redistribution of wealth or taxation schemes designed to blunt economic inequality are denounced as exploiting this rather poorly regarded emotional state. An exact definition of envy is rarely offered in these writings, but what is clearly implied is that envy involves not only wanting what another has but also negative feelings and resentment over the greater success or material wealth of others, which fuels a desire to see some of that advantage taken away from those more fortunate. Such a definition is in keeping with how many psychologists define envy, although psychological research has also noted that envy does not only involve negative feelings toward others but often also has the consequence of making one feel bad about oneself ( Smith and Kim, 2007). Now, I am sure not all the members of the BCA are vampires, but they sure would not be advocating for this because it is the “right thing to do”, they are doing it because they know it is good for the bottom line of their business members.

Where political behavior meets behavioral economics, we find political misbehavior. Brilliantly advancing this emerging research agenda, Envy in Politics marries timeless theoretical insights with cutting-edge methods, and establishes that citizens engage in politics not just to secure gains for themselves, but to impose losses on others."—Dan Slater, University of Michigan The research is clear—education is unquestionably the most important factor for moving up the income ladder, and is in fact becoming even more important. In chapter eight, begins her discussion of envy in Academe with, “Several years ago, American writer Gore Vidal, a public intellectual known for his piercing prose and clever witticisms, famously said: “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.”