On the Problem of Envy: Social, clinical and theoretical considerations

It is easy for modern man to draw up outlines of a future ideal society where people are good and happy and no social discord prevails anymore It is probably even easier to criticize mistakes of the past, to hold our forefathers responsible for social wrongs and human suffering. The greatest difficulty lies in realizing the limitations of our own conception of the world and of our own objectives. Each generation tends to be blind to its own mistakes, but becomes later, in its turn, the object of the judgment of history.

Traditionally, the Roman Catholic Church counts envy among the seven mortal sins. To be envious is thus to be morally deeply condemned. The immediate influence of religious moral concepts on modern man has weakened however, and the social phenomenon of religiously motivated morality is rapidly on the decrease. Yet a structured society without morals is an impossibility. Established Christian concepts of sin and guilt are in the process of being replaced by new moral norms emanating from predominant present-day ideologies. Foremost among these are the ”democratic movement“ of the bourgeoisie and marxism among socialists. Typically enough, envy is not morally