Essay
Suffer or succeed
PHOTOS: © EDWARD QUINN RIVIERA COCKTAIL, PUBLISHED BY TENEUES (WWW.TENEUES.COM), ALL PHOTOS © EDWARDQUINN.COM
How we can transform envy into a driving force
behind social progress and economic growth
ENVY IS SOMETHING that affects other people, not
us. We’re never envious. In contrast to other feelings,
envy is something we rarely admit to, even to ourselves.
We readily admit that we love or hate something or
someone; that we are sad or angry; but hardly anyone
will confess to being envious.
That is not all. Envy is also a character flaw that we
eagerly attribute to those we wish to be seen as wicked
and dangerous, and indeed, one popular theory says that
societies in which people are driven by envy are broken
societies. Devoured by envy, people wear themselves out
battling with one another for a bigger slice of the cake.
Instead of working to create value so that they can acquire something of value, they stare enviously at the
valuables that others have acquired. And with everyone
caught up in this poison-green circle of envy, there is no
one left to add value for themselves or others. The road
to hell is paved with envy, so to speak.
It is fashionable to complain about how
envious other people are. But before pointing
the finger at others, we do well to consider
our own attitudes. Are we perhaps in part
responsible for creating a climate that diminishes the individual’s chances of success? As
economist Guy Kirsch explains in the following article, whether people suffer pangs of
envy at their neighbors’ superior lifestyle or
strive optimistically to improve their own
situation depends first and foremost on their
social environment.
by Guy Kirsch
Envy fuels competition
Where there is a theory, there is a counter-theory: Envy
is a key for the clockwork that drives performance.
Some would call it the key driver. An envious glance at
what others can afford urges people on to a level of performance that will ensure they can afford as much if not
more than others. Without that sidelong envious glance,
we would all settle happily for what we’ve got and slumber on. According to this theory, envy fuels competition.
So however unpleasant the feeling of envy may be, it
is ultimately a useful feeling, at least in terms of its consequences. This is not a recent discovery. Back in 1732,
in his wonderfully acerbic Fable of the Bees, Bernard
Mandeville describes how “private vices” become “public benefits” and expressly mentions envy. So while envy
may indeed be a vice, it is a vice made virtue by its consequences.
Both theories sound plausible and there is evidence
for each. But only one of them can be right. Or could
perhaps both be right depending on the circumstances?
At this point we should ask ourselves what exactly we
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For over a decade, the Irishman Edward Quinn (1920–1997) captured the far-flung social and cultural life of
the Côte d’Azur in the fifties.
Edward Quinn, Riviera Cocktail.
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Parallel Worlds Essay
We should not be surprised to find that wherever feudal
privileges, mafia-style networks, monopolistic structures,
inherited sinecures or bureaucratic hurdles restrict
the individual’s chances of success, envy harms society.
fact that we don’t have what others have. This simple
trick transforms the painful feeling of envy into a delicious sensation of the injustice of this world. Another
means of avoiding a review of our own inadequacies is
to shift our focus on the better-off to such ethereal levels
that no realistic comparison is possible. By concentrating on a pop star who earns millions, I can exclude all
possibility of comparison and thus of envy, and spare
myself the painful review of my own limitations. This
explains why the stars of the stage or sports arena are
rarely envied and so often greatly admired.
mean by envy. This may seem a strange thing to ask, given that everyone is surely acquainted with envy from
personal experience. Nevertheless, on closer inspection,
envy turns out to be a highly complex feeling. It comprises the pain that someone feels when he sees that others, who are so close to him that he can compare himself
with them, have something which he does not have, but
to which he feels entitled. So while I don’t feel envy towards Bill Gates, I am envious of a colleague of mine
who commands a higher lecture fee than I do.
Envy consumes its victims
Motivation to do better
As a rule, the more discontented I am with my own situation, the more I tend to compare myself with my colleague. Empirical studies confirm that women who are
content with the way they look are less likely to compare
themselves with top models. They feel less challenged
by the models’ slender figures than women who are unhappy about their appearance. So comparing ourselves
with others doesn’t make us discontented, it is more an
expression of a latent discontent. That explains why
envy is first and foremost a painful experience, as reflected in the expression that someone is a “victim” of
envy. Of necessity, the envious must conceal their envy
which, left with no outlet, turns inwards and consumes
its victims who are left alone with their pain.
What is it that makes envy such a destructive feeling?
Why do I suffer, even if I can afford to live in comfort, at
the sight of someone who lives in greater comfort still?
The answer is as simple as it is surprising: The envious
suffer because the sight of those who have more than
they do makes them feel they are incapable of the level
of performance that would enable them to “keep up with
the Joneses”. In a word, it is not the fact that others have
more that oppresses the envious, but the fact that they
themselves have less. Envy points up our own inadequacies that we are carefully ignoring and that are dragged
into the spotlight by the sight of the better-off.
One way to avoid the suffering caused by this unforgiving mirror is to blame external circumstances for the
It also helps to explain why top managers’ salaries make
them the objects of envy. Since they lost their prestigious
aura in the public perception, and with it their status as
demigods, managers have become people with whom
anyone can compare themselves. It is quite reasonable to
assume that managers’ prestige did not suffer because
they are envied their high salaries, but that they are envied their salaries because their star status has faded.
The above-mentioned strategies for avoiding the pain
that comes with envy are relatively harmless. But notions of harmlessness go out the window when envy mutates into malevolence. Now the envier not only suffers
on account of what others have that he does not; he also
takes action to ensure that if he doesn’t have it, neither
shall they. If I cannot have a house as big as my neighbor’s, then he must have a house as small as mine. And it
is only natural that those whose hard work has brought
them superior rewards then begin to channel their energy away from productive work and into defending themselves against their malevolent neighbors – the poisongreen circle is complete.
We deduce from the above that while envy can be socially harmless, it is a potentially dangerous and destructive sentiment. But then there is also the optimistic theory that envy is one of the driving forces of social and
economic progress. The question is, after what we have
just said, must we forget all notions of optimism? It may
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Parallel Worlds Essay
European countries, life has become “nationalized” to
such an extent that people have virtually no concept of
what it means to be responsible for their own lives. The
problem is exacerbated in many countries by high unemployment among young people, who from a very early
age are forced to abandon all hope of attaining a better
life through their own efforts.
Anyone aiming to become as well-off as others (or
indeed better-off) through hard work and initiative must
adopt an entrepreneurial approach. That means he must
accept that there is a risk of failure. This, however, he
will only do if there is no danger of him being branded
an eternal loser on account of a single failure. What we
need is a culture of failure, in which those who fail once
are given a second chance. It is more than mere supposition that many European societies suffer from high levels of envy because, in marked contrast to the US for example, they have not established a culture of failure.
It is probably true to say that differences in wealth
and standards of living can act as driving forces of social
progress and economic growth. But they will not do so
where the differences are so great that the less well-off
have no chance of closing the gap by any meaningful
amount. In such cases it should rather be assumed
that the better-off will appear as the beneficiaries of
an unjust social order. The sentiment that could have
been exploited to drive a constructive effort to improve
one’s own situation then mutates into the kind of
destructive force typical of a society riddled with envy:
The better-off are afraid of the malevolence of the
less-well-off, who for their part are consumed by envy
and resentment.
seem that way at first sight, but appearances can be deceptive: It is by no means inevitable that envious comparison should be the end of the story or that it should
ever come to active malevolence. In fact, it is quite possible to imagine scenarios in which those who have less
than others feel motivated to raise their game.
Striving for improvement
At this point I am put in mind of a conversation I once
had during a lecture tour of China together with a colleague who also happens to be a friend of mine. One
evening, our young interpreter asked how it could be that
we two lecturers, each interested in achieving maximum
personal success, could nevertheless be friends?
In the course of the conversation it soon became clear
that the Chinese are no more or less likely to be envious
than people elsewhere. The decisive factor is the external
circumstances. Thus, for example, it could be assumed
that a person would be envious of someone better-off if he
saw no chance of improving his own position.
A society in which people have the opportunity to
catch up with others may not be able to prevent pangs of
envy arising at the sight of someone better-off, but those
pangs can more readily be translated into a constructive
striving for one’s own improvement. So whether people
stare passively at their neighbor’s lifestyle, devoured by
envy, or optimistically work towards improving their
own situation depends on their social environment.
We need a culture of failure
We should not be surprised, then, to find that wherever
feudal privileges, mafia-style networks in politics and
business, monopolistic structures, inherited sinecures or
bureaucratic hurdles restrict the individual’s chances of
success, envy not only poisons the soul but also harms
society. Those who bemoan the existence and consequences of a society pervaded with envy – often the better-off – would do well to consider to what extent they
themselves are responsible for creating this society by
erecting barriers to secure their privileges and thereby
limiting the opportunities open to the less fortunate.
That said, in order for the less fortunate to translate
that initial pang of envy into motivation to drive their
own performance, the mere absence of such barriers is
not enough. The individual in question must also have
the self-confidence to take his fate into his own hands.
This may sound trivial but it is not axiomatic. In many
RESUMÉ
Guy Kirsch
Born in 1938, Guy Kirsch has been Professor
of New Political Economics at the University
of Fribourg (Switzerland) since 1972. Today a
popular international author, Kirsch has also
been a visiting scientist at the Social Science
Research Center Berlin and has lectured at
several US universities.
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