Inpsychoanalysis, thenarcissism of small differences (German:der Narzissmus der kleinen Differenzen) is the idea that the more a relationship or community shares commonalities, the more likely the people in it are to engage in interpersonal feuds and mutual ridicule because of hypersensitivity to minor differences perceived in each other.[1] The term was coined bySigmund Freud in 1917, based on the earlier work of EnglishanthropologistErnest Crawley. Crawley theorized that each individual is separated from others by ataboo of personal isolation, which is effectively a narcissism of minor differences.[2]
The term appeared in Freud'sCivilization and Its Discontents (1929–30) in relation to the application of the inborn aggression in man to ethnic (and other) conflicts, a process still considered by Freud, at that point, as a convenient and relatively harmless satisfaction of the inclination toaggression.[3] ForLacanians, the concept clearly related to the sphere ofthe Imaginary: the narcissism of small differences, which situatesenvy as the decisive element in issues that involve narcissistic image.[4] American psychiatristGlen O. Gabbard has suggested that Freud's narcissism of small differences provides a framework to understand that in a loving relationship, there can be a need to find, and even exaggerate, differences in order to preserve a feeling of separateness and self.[5]
It has been pointed out that Jonathan Swift in his 1726 novelGulliver's Travels described this phenomenon when writing about how two groups entered into a long and vicious war after they disagreed on which was the best end to break an egg.[6]
In terms ofpostmodernity, Clive Hazell argues thatconsumer culture has been seen as predicated on the narcissism of small differences to achieve a superficial sense of one's own uniqueness, anersatz sense of otherness which is only a mask for an underlying uniformity andsameness.[7] The phenomenon has been portrayed by the British comedy groupMonty Python in their satirical 1979 filmLife of Brian,[8] by the comedianEmo Philips,[9] and by authorJoan Didion in an essay (part of her 1968 bookSlouching Towards Bethlehem) about Michael Laski, the founder of theCommunist Party USA (Marxist–Leninist).[10]
| Similar personality concepts | |
|---|---|
| In society | |
| Pathological narcissism | |
| Phenomena | |
| Related psychology concepts | |
