Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

THE SIN OF PRIVACY 353
fessors. Not one of them would deny that intellectual work, and more
especially the continual spate of academic writing that is expected of
him in America more than anywhere else, is best done when he can sit at
his desk undisturbed, unobserved and undistracted. But one of the
hallmarks of the American campus is the sight everywhere of instructors
and professors sitting with their doors wide open. If, under pressure to
complete a work, one of them decides with a heavy heart to keep his door
shut, he does so with a strong feeling of guilt, justifying his action
beforehand to his colleagues and students, and hanging an apologetic
notice on the door.
Occasionally it may happen that the chairman of a department,
concerned at the advantage taken of faculty members by talkative students
and colleagues, recommends a policy of closed doors. But hardly
anyone can make up his mind to do this, for behind his back his motives
will immediately be questioned.
To appreciate the full meaning of this custom it should be known that
in nearly every American college and university, and in every faculty, a
professor is expected to be available in his office daily between nine and
five o'clock, even if it is a day when he has no lectures or seminars. The
compUlsion of the open door affects a large part of the time available for
intellectual work.
A cautious probing of the motives of this privacy phobia reveals it as a
deep-rooted concern not to be unequal, not to be regarded as proud,
secretive or unsociable, or even as exceptionally productive-a concern,
in short, not to arouse envy in someone else who himself lacks the
self-discipline to work and welcomes any distraction. The delicate social
psychology of privacy, including the problem of closed doors in American
culture, has been examined very recently by Barry Schwartz and
also by Edward T. Hall. 11
This observation of American everyday existence throws light on
many other motivational complexes in American democracy and society;
it must now further be considered, however, within a different
framework, that of comparative culture and also of philosophy.
11 Barry Schwartz, 'The Social Psychology of Privacy.' The American Journal of
Sociology, Vol. 73, 1967/68, pp. 741-52. Edward T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension,
Garden City, N. Y., 1966.