A SOCIOLOGY OF JEALOUSY

Abstract

In this paper, I sum up more than 20 years of research and reflection on jealousy. A chronological account of this work is followed by a thematic summary of the findings and some discussion of the relationship between sociology and psychology. Sociological analysis shows that jealousy and other emotions are shaped by social situations, social processes, and social forces. Micro‐sociology reveals that jealousy is learned. Jealousy reflects the life experience of the individual. Meso‐sociology reveals that jealousy is socially useful, indeed, indispensable to social order. Jealousy reflects the institution of marriage and the prohibition of adultery. Macro‐sociology reveals that jealousy is shaped by society and culture. Jealousy reflects the history and the values of a people—and the relevant values vary from time to time and place to place. In the United States, for example, a new and more negative view of jealousy emerged after about 1970 as a result of the sexual revolution and the women's movement.

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