Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour [Hardcover]

Helmut Schoeck (Author), M. Glenny (Translator), B. Ross (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 1970

Modern Political Philosophy

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An excellent and extremely valuable book. It is beautifully written and contains startling and enlightening information." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd (January 26, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0436443805
• ISBN-13: 978-0436443800
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, January 3, 2001

By 

Aaron Jordan (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: ENVY: A Theory of Social Behaviour (Paperback)

I will never look at politics, society, or myself in the same way ever again. This book is a masterpiece, and Helmut Schoeck does an outstanding job of showing just how influential and pervasive the emotion of envy is in society. He studies societies all over the globe and shows us one of human nature's uglier aspects which seems to be universal. I found in this book many lessons for myself personally, and I obtained a more profound understanding of society, especially in terms of damaging economic policies peddled by expediency-minded, power-hungry politicians which not only reduce the prosperity of the wealthy, but do not improve the lot of the poor which such policies are intended to help. This book is an excellent guide to human nature and societal structure.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, thought-provoking, and eye-opening., September 4, 2002

By 

Rocco B. Rubino "Rocco R." (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ENVY: A Theory of Social Behaviour (Paperback)

Envy is without a doubt the most corrosive of all human emotions, yet sociological, psychological, and anthropoligical study of its phenomenology is non-existent. How unfortunate!

Enter Helmut Schoek who traces the origins of envy through cultures, philosophy, psychology and politics. After reading this book you will be able to see how politicians appeal to this basest of human emotions to engender dissatisfaction and rage.

The phenomenology of envy needs to be studied in depth because of its pervasiveness in human nature, and societies worldwide. No people, government, religon or social group is immune from its poison.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating, original cultural analysis, June 23, 1998

By 

Paul Baxter ([e-mail]) (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ENVY: A Theory of Social Behaviour (Paperback)

This book goes down on my list as one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've ever read. It is a sociological\cultural anthropological study of envy. The author looks at written texts from biblical, Greek, and other ancient writings up to the twentieth century. He surveys anthropologist and sociologist studies on the subject and notes cultural differences in dealing with envy, with some emphasis on how it relates to politics. I honestly didn't find a single dull page in all of this.