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A SOCIOLOGY OF JEALOUSY

Gordon Clanton (San Diego State University)

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

ISSN: 0144-333X

Article publication date: 1 September 1996

744

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.

Citation

Clanton, G. (1996), "A SOCIOLOGY OF JEALOUSY", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 16 No. 9/10, pp. 171-189. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013274

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1996, MCB UP Limited

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