Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP 107
This view of the problem would seem to me more enlightening than
the usual one, according to which we are at all times so intent on gaining
the approval and acceptance of others that we conform. It would be more
realistic not to regard this as the primary motive. Often enough we
conform whether or not the sympathy of the rest is, or should be, of
especial importance to us: we fear what they might do-or not do-if we
were to arouse their envy of our courage to deviate from the norm.
Individual and group
The fact that modern social psychology always substitutes the motive of
'acceptance' or 'wanting to be popular' for the obviously more apt motive
of the avoidance of envy, is in itself a symptom of a process of repression.
Sociologists, especially American sociologists, have investigated in
many variations the repeatedly observable fact of conformity. The members
of a group, whether as sub-group or as individuals, exact from every
other member, and especially from the newcomer, certain kinds of
conformity. 'They' want 'adaptation' and 'adjustment.' They punish
non-conformity. These studies, however, never ask whence this tendency
comes, and why conformity of behaviour is demanded of the
individual even in fields having little or nothing to do with the real
functions of the group. What is particularly striking and unexplained
here are those cases in which a hold is gained over some members by
others-usually those who make themselves out to be spokesmen or in
some way specially qualified representatives of the group-where no
one personally feels that the recommended norm is either pleasant,
practical or rewarding. Indeed, the more unpleasant in practice, the more
irrational and awkward the norm to which members have to adhere, for
whatever reason (perhaps because the controlling body simply wants it
that way), the more fiercely do they watch each other for any laxity or
failure.
Could it be that in culture and society, man sees himself, often
perhaps unconsciously, as so much of an individual that any kind of
group membership is inherently repugnant to him? He feels himself
robbed of an asset-his very individuality. He has to be a member of a
group so as to earn his living, to acquire a certain education etc., but he
feels himself somehow diminished by belonging to a group, even if he