Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

CHILIASTIC MOVEMENTS 275
sanctions anyone who seeks, from private envy, to harm his fellow
tribesman (by means of denunciation, the evil eye, black magic, etc.).
If, however, the dividing line between private envy and justifiable
envy is no longer well defined in any society, individual actions and
social movements may occur with consequences that are unfortunate for
the whole society. For as soon as an avowedly envious man is able to
become a judge, a legislator or a leader of an important political party,
social effects arise which justify man's original mistrust of envy. Envy
deliberately used as a chosen instrument in political strategy or tactics is
something quite different from envy that operates largely in the unconscious
and upon which depend countless minor social controls and
inhibitions essential to a predictable, tolerable social life.
It is, of course, true that envy can express itself as much in the desire
for the preservation of inequality as in the desire to achieve equality. The
jealously guarded privileges of the established can be as harmful to the
welfare of others as the envy of the underdog. The notorious practices of
certain unions, especially in the United States and Britain, which discriminate
against ethnic minorities and against men without a family
link with the trade, and which also harm the public by depriving it of
adequate services, is a clear case of this type of envy. It is also to be found
in the professions and their associations. Yet there can be an essential
distinction. The highly paid expert, the skilled worker, etc., who protest
when others with lesser skills approach their pay scales, are reacting with
jealousy, not with true envy. They defend their territory as animals
instinctively do when an intruder trespasses. It is therefore extremely
unlikely that in any foreseeable future man will cease to react indignantly
to any such act of trespass. We simply have to take this form of behaviour
into account. It is also a form of psychological self-assurance: 'I deserve
consideration because I have worked hard for years to get where I am; I
will not tolerate people leapfrogging up into the same income bracket
merely because their unions have more members. ' If at the same time he
insists on a 'closed shop,' such attitudes can cause labour to ossify into
an occupational caste system, which is harmful to any modern industrial
society. The effect on society of such jealousy and covetousness is
positively to discourage enterprise, innovation and expansion. However,
as soon as the skilled man is willing to admit any qualified person to his
well-paid group, and merely resents the fact that others, without his