Politics of Envy

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It is also possible that the weak link between political ideology and envy is due to our single measure of political orientation, which asked people to place themselves on a left-right continuum (although we also did not find a significant relationship between party affiliation and envy). Political ideology is complex and it may be that more nuanced measures (such as how fiscally conservative or socially liberal one is) might reveal stronger relationships between envy and political attitudes. So many in this nation are homeless – with that figure rising – living below the poverty line, even though they may have two jobs, languishing on Newstart, not paying for heating on a pension or one pay cheque away from not being able to pay their rent or mortgage. It is about time these people were counted and demanding they “get a go” is not politics of envy, it is common sense. It is what a decent society does and even if you don’t care about being a decent person it is actually better for the economy as well. Envy in Politics gracefully mixes social science with political theory. The writing is elegant and incisive and the analysis penetrating and persuasive. This book proclaims the arrival of a major scholar."—Robert H. Bates, Harvard University When it really happens that the just man remains just even toward those who have harmed him… when the exalted, clear objectivity, as penetrating as it is mild, of the eye of justice and judging is not dimmed even under the assault of personal injury, derision, and calumny, this is a piece of perfection and supreme mastery on earth… What they don’t mention is most people are virtually guaranteed to see their energy bills climb even higher, despite the cap and regardless of whether they switch. As Ed Miliband has noted repeatedly, a price cap is not the same as his price freeze. The cap is reviewed twice a year by Ofgem and, if costs facing suppliers are up, up goes the cap. The regulator did exactly that recently with its specialist “safeguard” tariff.

Of course, these “scoops” would be accompanied by pictures of the lovely, angelic-looking little girls just to elicit that bit more sympathy for them and anger towards the callous and self-obsessed parents. The most likely rationale for growing economic disparity is also the engine of America’s unprecedented prosperity: technology. When pushed by reporters to give more information on the policy, the Labour leader’s reply was telling. “The point I’m trying to make”, he said, “is that we have the worst levels of income disparity of most of the OECD countries.”In chapter eight, begins her discussion of envy in Academe with, “Several years ago, American writer Gore Vidal, a public intellectual known for his piercing prose and clever witticisms, famously said: “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” Why do governments underspend on policies that would make their constituents better off? Why do people participate in contentious politics when they could reap benefits if they were to abstain? In Envy in Politics, Gwyneth McClendon contends that if we want to understand these and other forms of puzzling political behavior, we should pay attention to envy, spite, and the pursuit of admiration—all manifestations of our desire to maintain or enhance our status within groups. Drawing together insights from political philosophy, behavioral economics, psychology, and anthropology, McClendon explores how and under what conditions status motivations influence politics. But since 2008, a combination of austerity and pay freezes have created a new political dynamic. If a future Labour government took action to clamp down on executive pay, the move would be wildly popular. We see in these notes the characteristic marks of the sin of envy as Aquinas understands it: The mere fact that some have a good that others don’t have is taken to be as such, all by itself , intolerable; the person objecting to this inequality seeks to defame those who possess the good, and in particular to downplay or deny their virtues and highlight and exaggerate their vices; and he also aims in other ways to harm them mentally and materially.

While no one now-a-days would say these men are perfect, we cannot deny that they made each other reach for something beyond mediocrity. They each set another on a path towards greatness. They inspired each other to see worth all alone, without relation to those around them.

All of this is part of that other fairytale: meritocracy. If we were a meritocratic society, we would do away with private education tomorrow, because we would trust our children to be able to get on in the world. Instead, we have this very peculiar roleplay, where the rich and powerful present themselves as being victims of the class system. It’s not easy being posh. Even the Business Council of Australia, in their long list of what they think is great for the economy– namely themselves and big business– includes: Without question, destitution exists in the United States. Rising unemployment and housing foreclosures have put more families at risk. But blaming income inequality and punishing the rich would be a mistake. In Envy in Politics, McClendon shows that envy affects political behavior in varied and interesting ways that political scientists have previously ignored. This thought-provoking and important book is a very good read."—Ruth Grant, Duke University

Research by Kathryn L. Shaw suggests that education encourages greater risk taking because individuals with education can better weigh the expected costs and benefits of an action. A practical example of risk enhancing income is willingness to move from a place of low opportunity (i.e., high unemployment) to one where jobs are more plentiful. Another helpful suggestion, in light of the troubled economy, comes from Alberto Alesina of Harvard and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago, who state, "There is no better way to encourage [people to take more risk] than a temporary elimination of the capital-gains tax." Thanks to globalization and stores like Wal-Mart, goods bought by the poor have become relatively less expensive when compared to goods bought by the rich. The president and Congress are seeking a solution to the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Lurking beneath President Obama’s economic agenda are campaign promises and political appeals that call for societal change on a grand scale. For example, on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the incoming president stood at the civil rights leader’s historic pulpit and spoke of the need for unity. Americans must unite, Obama demanded, to end the country’s moral deficit. "CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months," he said.Getting married and staying married would help put low-income Americans on the path to upward mobility. Government could take an active, positive role in promoting marriage by removing tax and welfare rules that penalize it. Political scientist James Q. Wilson has called for the "Department of Health and Human Services [to] launch an ambitious program . . . to identify and test marriage promoting programs so that those that work can be widely advertised." Another possibility is that the differences in envy across age groups are due to cohort effects rather than to developmental changes. It may be that socio-cultural differences across generations have led to younger people being more prone to envious reactions than their older counterparts, e.g., through greater emphasis on equity or differences in high self-esteem (see Gentile et al., 2010; Twenge and Foster, 2010, for suggestions of cohort effects in self-esteem). Whether any of these possibilities could account for our observed decline in enviousness with age would be worthy of future investigation. Limitations and Future Research When envy shades further into actual resentment, we can actually wish people harm because of what they have. The minute the 99% don’t accept that the 1% earned their place at the top of the hierarchy through sheer talent and ability alone, anarchy will ensue. So there are the endless justifications for inequality again, as though it were a personality trait rather than a political product.

What motivates Donald Trump’s political base . . . [McClendon’s] big insight is that the seething and yearning focuses not on class conflict, but the Joneses. That is, while emotional cues may come from national voices, it’s the people next door who churn minds to the point where their bodies will clamber into the arenas of politics."—Michael Cornfield, The Guardian We would do well to recall the late Milton Friedman’s famous saying: A society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. Political ideology was self-categorized on a five-point scale from (1) far-left, center-left, middle of the road, center-right, to (5) far-right. Finally, participants completed the DES ( Smith et al., 1999). This scale consists of eight items including: (1) I feel envy every day. (2) The bitter truth is that I generally feel inferior to others. (3) Feelings of envy constantly torment me. (4) It is so frustrating to see some people succeed so easily. (5) No matter what I do, envy always plagues me. (6) I am troubled by my feelings of inadequacy. (7) It somehow does not seem fair that some people seem to have all the talent. (8) Frankly, the success of my neighbors makes me resent them. Participants respond to these items on a five-point scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. The individual DES scores were summed for analyses. We also examine just items that focus on material wealth or success (items 4, 7, and 8) as it could be argued, as pointed out by a reviewer, that these most closely tap into the type of envy implied when the term “the politics of envy” is used. Results

That there is a natural inequality between angelic excellence and divine excellence, and that the former could not be made even to approximate the latter except by the help of the one who is more excellent, is intolerable to the demons. It is the inequity as such that pains them as an affront to their pride. So deep does this resentment go that, according to Aquinas , “when the devil tempts us to envy, he is enticing us to that which has its chief place in his heart.” Through surveys, case studies, interviews, and an experiment, McClendon argues that when concerns about in-group status are unmanaged by social conventions or are explicitly primed by elites, status motivations can become drivers of public opinion and political participation. McClendon focuses on the United States and South Africa—two countries that provide tough tests for her arguments while also demonstrating that the arguments apply in different contexts. You’ve got something I want. I can’t have it, so I’m going to destroy what you have. I don’t want anyone to have it unless I can have it.”