Grievance and Shame in the Modern Age of Entitlement. (5th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Montanye, James
• Is Part Of: Essays in the philosophy of humanism. Volume 24:Number 1(2016:Mar.)
• Page Start: 59
• Page End: 85
• Publication Date: 2016-08-05
• Subjects: shame -- rent seeking -- entitlement -- ngrams -- grievance -- bullshit; Humanism -- Periodicals; Humanists -- Periodicals; 144.05
• DOI: 10.1558/eph.31168
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1522-7340

Abstract

Abstract : Philosophers since Plato have questioned whether might makes right, and whether the weak are condemned perforce to suffer at the hands of strong, cunning, and ruthless elites and majorities. This essay argues that communicative and strategic uses of grievance, shame, "bullshit, " collective action, and economic rent seeking ("entitlement seeking") mitigate conventional forms of social might, thereby helping the weak and the few (that is, modern social minorities) to prosper and flourish despite their inferior strength, numbers, and social status. The argument is supported empirically by macroeconomic and ngram ("word frequency") data.