{"product_id":"the-psychology-of-inequality-9780812250763","title":"The Psychology of Inequality","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Psychology of Inequality\u003c\/i\u003e, Michael Locke McLendon looks to Jean-Jacques Rousseau''s thought for insight into the personal and social pathologies that plague commercial and democratic societies. He emphasizes the way Rousseau appropriated and modified the notion of self-love, or \u003ci\u003eamour-propre\u003c\/i\u003e, found in Augustine and various early modern thinkers. McLendon traces the concept in Rousseau''s work and reveals it to be a form of selfish vanity that mimics aspects of Homeric honor culture and, in the modern world, shapes the outlook of the wealthy and powerful as well as the underlying assumptions of meritocratic ideals.\u003cbr\u003eAccording to McLendon, Rousseau''s elucidation of \u003ci\u003eamour-propre\u003c\/i\u003e describes a desire for glory and preeminence that can be dangerously antisocial, as those who believe themselves superior derive pleasure from dominating and even harming those they consider beneath them. Drawing on Rousseau''s insights, McLendon asserts that certain forms of ineq\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Michael Locke McLendon demands that we take Rousseau's forceful criticisms of \u003ci\u003eamour-propre\u003c\/i\u003e seriously on their own terms. His insights are sharp and offer a distinct path through modern political psychology-I found myself repeatedly thinking through familiar writings in new and rewarding ways.\" * Matthew Maguire, DePaul University *\u003cbr\u003e\"With its astute recovery of Rousseau's language of \u003ci\u003eamour-propre\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Psychology of Inequality\u003c\/i\u003e offers philosophers, political theorists, and historians with an interest in commercial societies and their discontents an important and neglected means of understanding and evaluating contemporary liberal democracies.\" * Jonathan Marks, Ursinus College *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Being \u003ci\u003eAristos\u003c\/i\u003e and the Politics of Aristocracy\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. \u003ci\u003eAmor Sui\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAmour-Propre\u003c\/i\u003e in Augustine and Neo-Augustinianism: Surrogate\u003cbr\u003e Virtue or Gateway to \u003ci\u003eLibido Dominandi\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. \u003ci\u003eAmour-Propre\u003c\/i\u003e in Rousseau: Subverting the Aristocratic Personality\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Tocqueville's Liberal Reply\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405738910039,"sku":"9780812250763","price":52.7,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-psychology-of-inequality-9780812250763","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}