Abstract
<em>Ressentiment </em>is central for understanding the psychological foundations of reactionary politics, right-wing populism, Islamic fundamentalism, and radicalism. In this article we theorise <em>ressentiment </em>as an emotional mechanism which, reinforcing a morally superior sense of victimhood, expedites two parallel transvaluation processes: What was once desired or valued, yet unattainable, is reassessed as something undesirable and rotten, and one’s own self from being inferior, a loser, is reassessed as being noble and superior. We establish negative emotions of envy, shame, and inefficacious anger as the main triggers of <em>ressentiment</em>, with their associated feelings of inferiority and impotence, which target the vulnerable self. We identify the outcomes of <em>ressentiment </em>as other-directed negative emotions of resentment, indignation, and hatred, reinforced and validated by social sharing. We map the psychological structure of <em>ressentiment </em>in four stages, each employing idiosyncratic defences that depend on the ego-strength of the individual to deliver the transvaluation of the self and its values, and finally detail how social sharing consolidates the outcome emotions, values, and identities in <em>ressentiment</em> through shallow twinship bonds with like-minded peers. Our interdisciplinary theoretical account integrates classic philosophical scholarship of <em>ressentiment</em> and its contemporary proponents in philosophy and sociology, which highlight envy as the prime driver of <em>ressentiment</em>; it also considers the sociological approaches that focus on the repression and transmutation of shame and its social consequences, as well as the psychoanalytic scholarship on psychic defences and political psychology models on the emotionality of decision-making. We conclude the article by elaborating the political implications of <em>ressentiment</em> as the emotional mechanism of grievance politics.
Highlights
Aesop’s fable of the fox and the grapes tells of a fox’s frustrated and repeated failures to reach the grapes it covets, and ends with the fox’s scornful belittling of the sour grapes
We make theoretical headway towards a concep‐ tualization of ressentiment integrating seemingly inde‐ pendent but complementary approaches: The classic philosophical tradition (Nietzsche, 1885/1961; Scheler, 1915/1961) with its contemporary proponents in phi‐ losophy and sociology (Aeschbach, 2017; Demertzis, 2020; Elster, 1999; TenHouten, 2018; Ure, 2014) high‐ light envy as the prime driver of ressentiment; sociologi‐ cal approaches (Scheff, 1994; Turner, 2007) focus on the repression and transmutation of shame and its social consequences; political psychology studies operationalise ressentiment as the affective driver of political reaction‐ ism (Capelos & Demertzis, 2018); insights from psycho‐ analytical works elaborate on the workings of psychic defences
We have argued ressentiment is an emotional mecha‐ nism centred on victimhood and has two objects: the self and the unattainable object or one’s valued identity
Summary
Aesop’s fable of the fox and the grapes tells of a fox’s frustrated and repeated failures to reach the grapes it covets, and ends with the fox’s scornful belittling of the sour grapes. We make theoretical headway towards a concep‐ tualization of ressentiment integrating seemingly inde‐ pendent but complementary approaches: The classic philosophical tradition (Nietzsche, 1885/1961; Scheler, 1915/1961) with its contemporary proponents in phi‐ losophy and sociology (Aeschbach, 2017; Demertzis, 2020; Elster, 1999; TenHouten, 2018; Ure, 2014) high‐ light envy as the prime driver of ressentiment; sociologi‐ cal approaches (Scheff, 1994; Turner, 2007) focus on the repression and transmutation of shame and its social consequences; political psychology studies operationalise ressentiment as the affective driver of political reaction‐ ism (Capelos & Demertzis, 2018); insights from psycho‐ analytical works elaborate on the workings of psychic defences In conclusion we discuss the implications of our contribution in under‐ standing reactionary politics
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