It is common knowledge that envy is a drawback, however, few people can honestly confess to themselves that they are totally deprived of this feature. The society considers envy a negative, socially unacceptable phenomenon. Nevertheless, few researchers have tried to evaluate its scope and negative consequences for individuals' fate, economy and culture of the state. So far, there has not been a single attempt made in Russia to measure and investigate envy.
Such attempt has been undertaken by the researchers of Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), under the guidance of Kuanyshbek Muzdybayev, Ph.D. (Psychology). The aim of the effort is to investigate the attitude towards other people's success and luck in various social groups, their disposition to envy and description of its characteristics. Within recent years, the scientists carried out two researches at the interval of several years. In both cases, they questioned 700 people, including representatives of seven social groups, each comprising approximately 100 individuals: workers, employees of the public sector of economy, employees of the private sector, executives of companies, students, unemployed and pensioners. The samplings took into account the differences by sex and age.
It has turned out that adults go through three periods when their disposition to envy reaches its peak: 18-24 years, 30-34 years and 55-59 years. In all the three cases, envy is apparently connected to comparative assessment of their own achievements at a relevant stage of life. Students reveal the highest disposition to envy. The lowest level of disposition is manifested by employees of the public sector of economy. In comparison to them, slightly higher level of envy is demonstrated by pensioners, workers, unemployed and employees of the private sector.
No particular gender differences in disposition to envy has been revealed, however, men at the age of 30 through 34 are more envious to other people's success than women of the same age. Besides, male workers show slightly more envy than female workers - in other social groups no such difference was found.
Psychologists have compared changes in life of the highly envious and low envious respondents within the last nine years since the start of economic reforms in Russia. The most envious people turned out to be less fit in the course of transformation of the Russian society. They are to a larger extent displeased with their social and material position, their relations with surrounding people became more aloof, they are dissatisfied with their life in general. Envious respondents are not loyal to their milieu and the whole world. People seem to them biased, aggressive, cynical, selfish, vindictive, dishonorable, etc. They also tend to arbitrarily extend the boundaries of permissibility: in their opinion. various forms of dishonest behavior are acceptable - from ticketless travel by public transport through pilfering, aggressiveness in the intercourse, sexual incontinence and unscrupulousness.
The researchers have revealed two common regularities as regards to success and luck. First: people's envy grows as the person who previously had the worst results (for example, was a bad pupil) achieves success. Second: in the case of a successful lottery winning, envy grows pro rata to the amount of winning.
Envy is the feeling known since ancient times. Envy is hostile to any superiority be that material well-being, high awards, excellent job, beauty, etc. Envious persons not only cause discomfort to more successful people, they, if possible, ruin lucky persons' fates. The indispensable condition for envy to rise is impossibility to possess the features of a more successful rival. That results in the urge to take away, deprive, destroy luck or the very competitor. Therefore, envy is far from harmless.
***
"Chemistry and Life - XXI century": 105005 Moscow, Lefortovskiy per., 8.
(095) 267-5418,
267-5418