Research Catalog

Title

Ressentiment [electronic resource] : Reflections on Mimetic Desire and Society / Stefano Tomelleri.

Author

Tomelleri, Stefano, 1971-

Publication

• Baltimore, Maryland : Project Muse, 2015
• East Lansing, Michigan : Michigan State University Press, [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Project Muse.

Description

1 online resource (1 PDF (xliv, 201 pages).)

Summary

This book is a response to Friedrich Nietzsche's provocative question: How much and how does ressentiment condition our daily life? During the twentieth century we witnessed veritable eruptions of this insidious emotion, and we are still witnesses of its proliferation at various levels of society. This book aims to explore, according to Rene Girard's mimetic theory, the anthropological and social assumptions that make up ressentiment and to investigate its genesis. The analysis of ressentiment shows that this emotion evolves from mimetic desire: it is an affective experience that people have when a rival denies them opportunities or valuable resources (including status) that they consider to be socially accessible. It is a specific figure of mimetic desire that is typical of contemporary society, where the equality that is proclaimed at the level of values contrasts with striking inequalities of power and access to material resources. This dichotomy generates increasing tension between highly competitive and egalitarian mimetic desires and growing social inequalities. The ressentiment is ambiguous, and its ambiguity is that of mimetic desire itself, which we cannot dismiss from our lives. In that it provides occasions of conflict and baseness, ressentiment can fuel violence, discord, and injustice, but it also can open opportunities for growth and justice, and for inventing institutions that are better adapted to the transformations of our contemporary society.

Series Statement

Breakthroughs in mimetic theory

Uniform Title

• Ressentiment (Online)
• Breakthroughs in mimetic theory.
• Book collections on Project MUSE.

Alternative Title

Ressentiment (Online)

Subject

• Desire (Philosophy)
• Resentment

Note

• Issued as part of book collections on Project MUSE.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192) and index.

Access (note)

• Access restricted to authorized users.

Source of Description (note)

• Description based on print version record.

Contents

Foreword / by Rene Girard -- Foreword / by Paul Dumouchel -- Introduction -- 1. The revolt of the slaves at the masters' banquet -- 2. Bourgeois philanthropy -- 3. The surprise box of ressentiment -- 4. The last of the scapegoats -- 5. The mimetic nature of our ressentiment -- 6. Toward a sociology of ressentiment -- 7. From victim-playing to the ethics of ressentiment -- Conclusion.

OCLC

ssj0001546476

Author

Tomelleri, Stefano, 1971-

Title

Ressentiment [electronic resource] : Reflections on Mimetic Desire and Society / Stefano Tomelleri.

Imprint

Baltimore, Maryland : Project Muse, 2015 (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2015)

East Lansing, Michigan : Michigan State University Press, [2015] (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2015)

Series

Breakthroughs in mimetic theory

Breakthroughs in mimetic theory.

Book collections on Project MUSE.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192) and index.

Access

Access restricted to authorized users.

Connect to:

Available from home with a valid library card

Available onsite at NYPL

Added Author

Project Muse.

Other Form:

Print version: 1611861845 9781611861846