Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

368 IS OWNERSHIP THEFT?
economics, a new generation of egalitarian social engineers is already
proposing to level down these subjective values also. I know intellectuals
who cannot tolerate the thought that in the ideal society there should be
those for whom only pop music is a relaxation, while others enjoy and
understand classical music. Some years ago I examined these problems
in detail. 8
In the affluent society, attacks upon mere differences in income are
not very attractive either to the intellectuals who champion them or to
those who might benefit from them; the more so, since these differences
have already been largely levelled out. Hence for some years past the
new theme on the left has been the equalization, reorganization and
redistribution of education, this being seen less as a means towards
earning a better livelihood than as a direct means to a full enjoyment of
life at an intellectual level. Thus Erich Fromm, who seeks a 'humanist
socialism' halfway between Americanism and the Soviet culture, writes:
, . . . the idea of equality of income has never been a socialist demand.
. . . As far as inequalities of income are concerned, it seems that they
must not transcend the point where differences in income lead to
differences in the experience of life. ,9
Does social justice mean less all round?
Where a national product grows considerably faster than the population,
there woufd be no reason for social envy as such to assume too considerable
a role. Even when representatives of labour groups or farmers in
political key positions succeed in obtaining more for themselves than
would be accorded them without the consideration of envy, this does not
mean that the economic policy is adapted to the envious man. Although
now and again the taxpayer's money and other kinds of national income
are channelled to certain groups, less because of their actual performance
than because of their skilful manipUlation of the organ-stops of
envy-avoidance in the legislature, such processes are no more than
partial manifestations of the envy-phenomenon, having little influence
8 'Individuality vs. Equality,' Essays on Individuality, ed. R Morley, Philadelphia,
1958, pp. 103-24.
9 The Sane Society, London, 1956, pp. 334f.; New York, 1955.