Is jealousy outward sign of social capital deficit and diluting social ethic?

By Dr. D. Chandraratna

Nissanka Warakaulle’s thoughts on the abundant prevalence of jealousy among the Sinhala population (The Island, 23 December), prompted me to write a short sociological note to explain the phenomenon from many different angles. As I write this article the country is experiencing an acute crisis not only in the economy but on many fronts. We have arrived at a point, as Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith states in today’s paper, that needs nothing short of a revolutionary makeover sans violence, which incidentally the Sri Lankans are generally incapable, if the immediate past is any evidence thereof. Most will agree that the current state is a gradual unfolding of events since the time of our independence. While it is easy to pin the blame on the men who ruled the country, it is only an explanation in part. The fact of the matter is that our society has attenuated its greatest asset – our social capital. Jealousy is only a peripheral manifestation which has now come to the fore. If the voluminous ‘pirith nool’ that people wear is any indication, it certainly is not that our brethren have suddenly become enlightened, not in the least; it is a sign of anxiety and insecurity of a stressed mind.

Before we embark on the manifold explanations at hand, it is sad that in an otherwise beautiful country on this earth, we have not been a success in spite of the many qualitative advantages we possess: Our natural resources of clean air, water, topsoil, fair climate, natural beauty, strategic location and, most of all, an intelligent population full of capabilities. Nissanka Warakaulle, our erstwhile colleague from Peradeniya days, is suggesting that our social ethic pertaining to altruism, generosity of mind and in general our moral values have slackened, and undesirable traits have come to the fore.

Lack of opportunities
in a Zero-Sum game

Jealousy, enmity and frustration are generally seen as due to the scarcity of resources to go round. In economies where life is a zero-sum game those who cannot aspire to those limited opportunities are envious of those who can. In previous times these opportunities were distributed on various criteria defined by heredity, tradition and religion, such that those who were dispossessed accepted it as destiny (karma). We have been brought up under various hierarchical ideologies, such that our mindset is conditioned to deeming certain population groups and individuals as inferior and superior. We are given to harbour jealous thoughts about others on par with us, living close, or in our professional circles. The question then arises whether in a land of plenty as in Australia whether such jealousies are common. I thought of checking this out.

Surprisingly, even among the new migrants to Down Under, in a land of plenty, the evidence through the grapevine tells that jealousy among equals is rife as much as in the motherland. As Warakaulle has noted, jealousy abounds mainly among children concerning achievements through secondary schools and beyond. It also extends to material possessions, cars and houses in particular, which are the premium assets in a capitalist economy. The Asian migrant groups seem to display these character traits more than the Europeans.

In order to test the prevalence of jealousy in a different context I brought up this conversation with white Australians at a Christmas party here in Australia the other day. An academic colleague of mine, a microbiologist, who has visited Sri Lanka many times told me that Sri Lankans who have lived under rigid hierarchical systems generally resent the rise of any above their sanctioned station. They harbour jealousies mostly towards their own kind. There seems to be a germ of truth in that statement. She noted ‘Irisiyawa‘ as commonplace among middle class Asian migrants, intertwined with professional jealousy. A surgeon, of Sri Lankan parentage born here, interjected that in Australia, among the Sri Lankan professionals, jealousy is quite common. He added that while they were nonchalant about Europeans rising up the ladder, the envy was directed mainly at the immigrant professionals, co-workers just like them. It is noteworthy that in Australia there was a time Sri Lankans used anonymous petitioning against their own kind (as in Freddie Silva’s satirical song). In European countries Asian immigrants have become useful ‘whistle blowers’ to the income tax department. The state officials are surprised by the abundance of such ‘magnanimous civic virtue’ among the newly arrived professional migrants! By the way, I must add with pride and/or sadness that in this small capital city of Australia there are more than 300 engineering graduates, over 200 medical graduates and over 500 other technocrats from the German Technical Institute, mostly among newer migrants. Other Asian countries such as India have similar numbers or more in the immigrant population.

Social capital deficits

Many of the facets in Sri Lankan society fit the moral decline in American society that Robert Putnam explained by the use of the concept Social capital. In his book ‘Bonding Alone’ he defined social capital as the myriad social networks among individuals which enhance the norms of reciprocity, trustworthiness and civic virtue, which one learns and is inculcated in the formative years of one’s life. It develops trust, friendships, group affiliations, and many such desirable bonds which are carried out in groups, political associations, clubs and societies fostering many such linkages. He attributed the decline in American society partly to the lack of such bonding opportunities. I believe a similar social and ethical deficit in Sri Lankan society of the new generations is partly responsible for the prevalence of jealousy among other dysfunctional attributes. Others have added to Putnam’s thesis by highlighting the surge of non-face to face communication at the expense of direct communication which was the mortar that bound people together in the pre digital age. Social groups, friendship groups, festivals and movies as meeting places have declined, thereby limiting the opportunities for communitarian living today. Television, mobile phones and emails have encouraged, individually, to select private niche markets for solitary entertainment. You will not be surprised that here in Australia a jam-packed commuter train carrying thousands will invariably be (bar a tiny few) looking at the mobile phone, in deafening silence for the entire journey. One begins to wonder whether the first lesson in anthropology that all humans live in groups has much credence any more. It has been reported that an average cell phone user checks her phone every four minutes, spends an average of six hours in front of a screen, and ten hours a day hooked up to an electronic device of some sort. People have gotten used to being abusive to others from a distance. Sri Lankans are maestros in this art form. Compromise has declined, nastiness has increased, jealousy abounds, with or without mantra, huniyam, coconuts and fruit baskets (palathuru vatti).

Blemishes in irreligious
conduct are rectifiable

Let me conclude this essay by introducing another reason which I consider important in a predominantly Sinhala Buddhist society. Unlike in many other religions, the Buddhist attitude to salvation is in practising a world rejecting asceticism. In other religions the mundane world is presented as one’s own responsibility. The world is a creation of God and it must be navigated through one’s own charisma guided by rational ethical conduct so that one may not sully one’s own grace. Success comes with God’s blessing to the pious man for his honest ascetic conduct in this world. Buddhists do not have the threat of an eternal damnation under the ever-present watchful eye of a God. The Buddhist theory of samsara precludes eternal damnation and as explained in detail by Professor H. L Seneviratna in his book, Work of Kings, (P 328 ff), sins of this world can be adjusted at suitable junctures in one’s samsaric journey. The Buddhist hells are manipulable. That laxity also accounts for lack of rigour in ethical conduct. Too much of magic and ritualism in lay Buddhism make transgressions in behavioural activity rectifiable along the way. The cloak of camouflage hiding one’s true self is rarely exposed. The Buddhists can enjoy that privilege to display their discriminant jealousy with precise bookkeeping, without damaging the chances of a better life in a future birth.