Equality Expectations And Envy By Alain De Botton

In the USA, members of society strive for the goal of success, largely measured in terms of wealth and material possessions. The means of reaching this goal are through talent, ambition and effort. Unfortunately, Merton argues, little importance is given to the means of achieving success. The result is an unbalanced society where winning is all and the 'rules' are not very important.

On the one hand, nowadays there is at least opportunity for progression in life. There’s something out there to live and die for for each person. New people are stepping up to the batter’s box with a chance to hit the homerun to win the game. There’s such a big amount of room of potential for everyone to be the next millionaire, you never know who will make it big. On the other hand, there’s a very big tendency for people to get jealous of others for what they have. Whether it’s the new hot item, fancy clothing or whatever, individuals will always have that look of covetousness on their faces because there will always be something that they must acquire to express to his friends. This behavior causes many to stumble down the steps of success.

In today's society, you are judged by the clothes you wear, the house you live in, the car you drive, and other materialistic items. Regardless of whether you are a adult or a child, envying those with more is human nature. A less fortunate person will always feel inferior to those with more because they feel they are being judged. Rick Bragg, having to earn his way into the middle class, envied those who were born into rich families. He then soon realized it was an achievement on his part by having to work for what he now has: justification.

“Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide” (Emerson 370). In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, this theme is very prominent as two best friends at an all boy school share many different qualities, that leads to one characters down fall. These best friends are Gene and Finny. Finny is a charismatic, rule-breaker who can smooth talk his way out of anything. On the other hand, Gene is a conformist who envies Finny’s charm. In A Separate Peace, Gene’s envy kills his individualism , affects his relationship with Finny, and causes him to see if he can find peace within himself or not.

WEB Du Bois provides a counter argument to the belief in the American dream, however. He argues that “when sticks and stones and beasts form the sole environment of a people, their attitude is largely one of determined opposition to and conquest of individuals” (541). Du Bois is arguing that men become oppressed because of an innate attitude that men possess, that in fact it is not their qualifications that determine whether or not they are successful, rather it is based on the preconceived

Everyone’s happiness is different, however in America, each person’s difficulty to accomplish it varies as well. Since its creation, the United States promised to be the land of equal opportunity and granted the people their basic human rights. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness cannot be taken away from anyone in America. However, pursuit of happiness is one thing, achieving it, is another. For many, the American Dream is something that must require many sacrifices, and maybe it will become achievable. For few, they were born in the American Dream, if they choose to grow on it, it would require little effort. Today, success has a sort of favoritism when it comes to what class a citizen may be. Success favors those with a wealthy background, because of the whispered caste system of America.

Society labels and places people in boxes. We are told that “All men are created equal,” but in reality, society places expectations upon us in every aspect of

inferior. For many, such moments will lead them to strive to compensate for that weakness. When this happens, it leads to what he calls “superiority striving,” in which the person is motivated by his or her feelings of inferiority to overcome and strive for betterment,

The idea of self is a significant part of every individual’s life. The way we visualise ourselves can be altered by feelings of self worth and self esteem and lead to a change or influence in the way we act. The evaluation of one’s attitude towards self can be seen to be improved by the individual believing they are worthy which could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. The better-than-average effect can depict this theory by assessing individuals on their motivational bias and attributes (Brown, 2011). In this particular study, participants are given a questionnaire regarding ten traits, half of high importance and half of low importance. They were then told to rate these attributes on importance of possession. As predicted, the results show that the

Envy can also derive from a sense of low self-esteem that results from an upward social comparison

In fact, this theory proposes that, “to live is to feel inferior” (Mosak 1995). However, when the individual begins to act inferior rather than feel inferior, the individual is engaging in “discouragement” or the inferiority complex (Mosak 1995). “To oversimplify, the inferiority feeling is universal and ‘normal’; the inferiority complex reflects the discouragement of a limited segment of our society and is usually ‘abnormal’” (Mosak 1995). This theory views the healthy and “ideal” individual as one who engages in life experiences with confidence and optimism. “There is a sense of belonging and contributing, the ‘courage to be imperfect,’ and the serene knowledge that one can be acceptable to others, although imperfect” (Mosak 1995).

• Lack of confidence and low self-esteem : feeling of hopelessness, “not being good enough” and “not worthy”

In briefly evaluating the classical and modern explanations of social inequality, it is essential that we step outside the realm of our own lives, class position, and discard any assumptions we might have about the nature of inequality. This process of critical pedagogy allows us to view our world, not from our perspective, but from a wider, more critical analysis of inequality's nature. Also, it should be considered within this wider perspective that all theories of inequality have a class perspective, where the theorist, based on the position their theory takes, is making claims from (or for) a particular class (whether they want to or not). With this in mind, it seems that most of these theories come

According to Adler, the feeling of inferiority is an inseparable part of human existence. And in order to overcome that feeling one must compensate. In other words, be willing to

Envy is a feeling that has been around the society for a long time; therefore, it has been discussed by religions and psychologist throughout the history. “For where envying and strife [is], there [is]