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The concept of entitlement has been extensively discussed by sociologists, social workers, economists, lawyers, political scientists, and others. Legislators, at all levels, have spent considerable time and effort evaluating and enacting laws in regard to this issue. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts have minimally investigated the effect of attitudes of entitlement in the development of psychopathology. Only five papers have appeared in the psychiatric literature which specifically address this issue. The primary emphasis has dealt with exaggerated attitudes of entitlement involved in narcissistic disorders. This article reviews the literature, elaborates on the three types of entitlement attitudes, postulates that all three types are manifested in all human beings, that these attitudes may be a major factor in psychopathology, and that the etiology of these attitudes is bimodal — social and psychological.
The word entitlement is heard more and more often these days. The concept it refers to was honored by the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and the Social Security Act of 1935 expanded the idea in ways not dreamed of by the Founding Fathers. Since then it has been broadened still further by militant efforts to ensure the civil rights of various racial and social minorities within our society, and even applied to ecological issues on