Psychological Analysis of "Snobbishness"
When we are minors, no one cares about what we do, and we can be favored unconditionally. We can eat and burp without worry, we can yell without caring about the feelings of others, we can also not make a penny or make a powerful friend, but we are still the center of attention of those around us. .
Once we become adults, it means we have to fight for a place in a world full of snobs and cold faces. The influence of these people is the key to our identity anxiety. While there are friends and loved ones who promise never to abandon us—to stick with us even when we are bankrupt and in disrepute (and sometimes we actually believe them)—the reality is harsher. : There are many snobs around us, and we live under their snobbish eyes all the time.
In Britain, the word "snobbery" first appeared in the 1820s. It is said that its origin is related to a habit of Oxford and Cambridge universities at that time. At that time, Oxford and Cambridge universities usually consciously distinguished ordinary students from aristocratic children on their examination rosters. It was customary to write "sine nobilitate" (Latin, meaning no noble blood) next to the names of ordinary students. For "S.nob". (That is, the current snob in English means a snob.)
The original meaning of the word "snob" refers to a person who has no prominent status. But the meaning of this word has changed a lot in modern times. It is almost completely opposite to the original meaning. It refers to a person who looks down on others because of their lack of social status. Obviously, people give it a strong derogatory connotation when using it, using it to describe a kind of discrimination against others, and this kind of discrimination is extremely wrong and should be ridiculed.
William Thackeray's The Mask of the Snob (1848) is one of the earliest writings on the subject. He pointed out in the article that in the past 25 years, snobs "have extended like a railway to every corner of Britain. Now, in this so-called British Empire where the sun never sets, you can meet these snobs anytime, anywhere, and you can see them at a glance Recognize them”.
But in fact, snobbishness is not a new thing, but the spirit of equality is; under the watchful eye of the spirit of equality, the traditional practices of class discrimination begin to become more and more outdated, at least in places like Salvador. Intellectuals like Clay seemed anachronistic.
Being around snobs can irritate us, but it can also make us nervous and discouraged because we feel so small deep inside ourselves, that is to say, so small outside of our identity. We are completely powerless to change the discrimination against us by the snobs. We may have the wisdom of Solomon and the resourcefulness of the Odyssey. However, as long as we do not have a socially recognized identity and status, all of our advantages will be in vain, and snobs will only ignore our existence.
When they are young, people come into this world naked and have nothing, but they are still loved and loved. As babies, they are unable to repay those who love them in secular or material ways. . They are loved and cared for, and they have nothing; they may be disobedient, howl loudly, and have tempers, but they are still loved. In essence, love in adulthood is no different from the absolute and unconditional love we received from our parents in childhood. Because of this, it is difficult for us to accept the snob's practice of judging people based on their status.
As we grow up, the love we receive depends on our achievements: we have to be polite, we have to do well in school, and then we have to gain a certain status and prestige in society. These efforts may attract the attention of others, but their motivations and desires are actually quite prosaic. They are nothing more than trying to regain the full, unconditional love we had as children. In this sense, the glorious achievements we strive for are no different from the wide-eyed childhood actions of sitting chubby on the kitchen floor trying to put together blocks.
Because our desire for love is so obvious, only the most clumsy snobs will admit that they are attracted to the other person's power and prestige. Using the other person's power and prestige as a reason to invite the other person to have lunch not only seems untrustworthy, but also makes the other person feel insulted, because a person's power and prestige are the most essential things outside of us that are difficult to retain.
Although we may lose power and become anonymous without waiting until our death, our childlike thirst for love never ceases. Smart snobs know that they should let the flattered know that what they care about is not the existing distinguished status and status of the flattered - if they say, they may also pay attention to the cars and newspapers used by the flattered as diplomatic ambassadors. The reports about their lives or their directorships in the company are purely coincidental and merely a sign of their deep, pure respect for the people they flatter.
Yet despite the efforts of these snobs and their flattery, those being flattered are likely to see the vagaries behind these grandiose eulogies. Therefore, the flattered will leave the snob because they are afraid that one day, their true self, which has nothing to do with their identity, will be discovered by them.
Snobbers only care about the reputation and achievements of others. Once the reputation and achievements of people he knows well change, these snobs are likely to take notice and rearrange their so-called closest friends, thereby staged a tragedy and comedy.
In Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (1922), in Paris at the end of the 19th century, on a foggy evening, the middle-class narrator rushed to Went to have dinner with an aristocratic friend of his in a very high-end restaurant. His friend was the Marquis de Saint-Loup. He arrived at the restaurant first, while his friend the Marquis arrived a little late. When he arrived at the restaurant, the waiter saw that he was dressed in a shabby way and his surname was not from a well-known family, so he concluded that he was a little person who had come to their territory. They behaved quite arrogantly, led him to a table in the cold wind, and their service to him was not at all attentive.
About a quarter of an hour later, the Marquis arrives, recognizes his friend, and the narrator's status in the eyes of the restaurant staff is instantly elevated. The restaurant manager began to bow deeply to him, opened the menu for him, introduced to him the special dishes of the day in flattering terms, and even complimented his clothes, trying hard to prevent him from sharing these special attentiveness with him and the Marquis. relationship, and sometimes even smile, as if to show that all this courtesy comes from the inner respect for the narrator. When the narrator asked for some bread, the restaurant manager immediately put his feet together and shouted, "'No problem, Monsieur the Baron! 'I'm not the Baron,' I said to him, with a hint of sarcasm and a hint of sadness.' Oh, damn! No problem, Mr. Earl! 'He walked away before I could make a second plea. It is conceivable that if there is a second plea, I will definitely be promoted to a marquis."
However satisfying the restaurant staff's change in attitude toward the narrator may seem. Its significance is still minimal, because the restaurant manager has not changed his extremely snobbish value judgment at all. He just made some modifications within his cruel standards - and in real life, it is difficult for us to meet a Marquis de Saint-Loup or some charming prince to prove to the world that we also have noble qualities. soul. Most of the time we have to sit at a table in the cold wind to "enjoy" our dinner.
The fear hidden deep in our hearts is actually the only source of snobbery. Once we see this clearly, we can have a clear understanding of snobbery. For those who are very sure of their status, they have no intention of deliberately dwarfing others as a kind of punishment. Behind arrogance lies nothing but fear. Because you always feel that you are inferior to others, you have to find ways to make others feel inferior to you.
This fear can also be passed down from generation to generation. Like all human bad habits, snobs are passed down from generation to generation. The previous generation will definitely instill in the next generation the concept that low social status is a tragedy, making it impossible for the next generation to easily get rid of the emotion. Low status means mediocrity, and noble status means excellent thinking. Set the tone.
In 1892, a humorous cartoon was published in the weekly "Clumsy". It was a spring morning in Hyde Park, where two families were walking in the park. There is this dialogue in the cartoon: "Mom, look, the Spicer Wilcox family is coming!" A daughter shouted to her mother, "I was told that they want to have a relationship with us. We Can you say hello to them? "
"Silly girl, how can that be done?" Mom replied, "They want to get to know us so much, which shows that they are not worthy of our friendship at all.
Only those who don't want to get to know us are worthy of our friendship! ”
Obviously, this mother’s answer shows the deep-rooted snobbery in her heart. Unless this mother can completely eradicate this chronic disease, she will never be able to have any influence on the Spicer Wilcox family. Good opinion - Likewise, it is unlikely that her descendants will escape this cycle of inherited snobbery (actually a mentality based on fear).
However, it is difficult to escape snobbery on one's own strength. The shackles of snobbishness are collective. The younger generation may be disgusted with snobbery at first, but this is not enough to free humans from the shackles of snobbery, because it is likely to make them eager to win over those who look down upon them. The favorability of the class has also become snobbish (we may not like some people, but it does not mean that we do not want to please them). It can be seen that the snobbish ideas of the outstanding class can affect the entire society and make everyone. In order to win the love and approval of others, people become enthusiastic about so-called pursuits that they have no interest in.
The snobbery caused by the frustrated and deep fear of human beings' desire for dignity. We should be more understanding and compassionate, rather than criticizing blindly.
But sometimes, it is really difficult not to laugh at some snobs who are keen to show their eponymous status. They are eager to let people know that their home has a solid gold faucet, thinking that this will increase their value. For a long time, Victorian style furniture can be said to be a bunch of tasteless things. It was sold by London's Jackson-Graham & Co., with a gaudy and exaggerated style. The most typical example is its oak cabinet, which is carved with a group of little boys picking grapes, and there are two pillars carved with female figures and A set of carved and semi-exposed columns. Of course, the most ostentatious thing is the 60-centimeter-high gold-plated bull on the cabinet.
We may laugh at the people who buy such a piece of furniture. Yes, but before we laugh at them, we should actually put ourselves in their shoes and think about this question from a broader perspective: Why do manufacturers produce such furniture? And why do people buy such furniture? In this way, we may no longer take these? The buyer joked, because it is the society we live in that is to blame - it is our society that presupposes such a norm and makes each of us psychologically believe that buying such a cabinet is necessary and worthwhile because it Such over-the-top, almost grotesque furnishings can win the respect of others. People's pursuit of luxury is not so much out of greed as it is out of a lingering emotional knot. People who are looked down upon by others will buy such a special piece of furniture in order to make themselves look less shabby, thereby sending a message: I should be respected too!
Ding Jungui
July 17, 2018