Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

SOCIAL CONSCIENCE IN THE EGALITARIAN PERSONALITY 329
more precisely, the utopia of a perfectly egalitarian society. It may never
come true, but a mere mental pose of being in its favour helps to bear the
guilt of being unequal.
Since about the middle of this century a quite remarkable irresolution
and weakness towards the envious have manifested themselves in a
significantly greater number of people than hitherto. Very few people
today care to be in a position in which they have to decide objectively
whether or not an envy-provoking situation is legitimate. The mere
expression of envy, whether in a political speech or caricature, or in a
satirical song etc., is now enough to convince such people that an
objective infringement of justice exists. It is tempting to regard this as a
form of regression. Among primitive peoples, and still today among
many simple agrarian communities, the envious man's evil eye is cast
upon the object of his envy seemingly on a plane of personality lower
than that of the unalloyed functions of the intelligence. There are many
proven cases in which knowledge of the curse of the envious man has
been enough to induce symptoms of disease in the person upon whom it
is cast. The whole progress of civilization presupposed that a sufficient
number of people should be able to liberate themselves from this fear.
The process was assisted by certain religious conceptions, as also secular
ones with cultural roots, such as the concept of luck.
Today, many people in the Western industrial societies seem to be as
prone to the fear of envy as are members of primitive societies. Except in
rural communities and in certain minority groups, it is rare to find the
use of magic antidotes against the evil eye; instead, we meet with an
insufficiently reasoned reaction which accepts all forms of envy as
justified in the light ofthe idea of equality.
Probably, the contemporary envious person, in search of social approval,
benefits by the insecurity and over-sensitiveness of many of his
contemporaries which are in turn responsible for the general proneness
to superstition. Whoever fails to identify with the envious man and his
cause is, in simple terms, pressing his luck too far.
Social conscience in the egalitarian personality
Social conscience, and the guilty feeling of having become enviable,
awaken in the soul of the egalitarian upon finding himself in receipt of an