The "narcissism of small differences" is a term coined by Freud (he sure knew how to invent memorable names for psychological concepts!) to describe a propensity for people to feel considerable hostility towards others whose attitudes or views differ only in minor ways from their own.
The best example I know (and it is surely unsurpassable) is in the context of political groups in the UK identifying themselves as Marxist-Leninist. There must be a dozen or more such groups, ranging in membership from (mostly) a few hundred to a few thousand, all of whom reject the others as failing to provide the "true" theory and practice to enable the proletariat to carry out their historic role as laid down by Marx. The groups exhibit great hostility towards each other, because they see their rivals as directing the working-class up a blind alley (as if "the workers" take any notice of their activities!) Within these groups the sub-group Trotskyists must be credited with exemplifying the narcissism of small differences in all its glory. In the UK the Trotskyist movement split into three main organisations many moons ago. I remember them well in the 1960s – they tended to operate in different social spheres, depending on where they thought they had the best chance of converting (I use the term advisedly) people to their faith. Each group inevitably produced "tendencies" in opposition to the current policies of the organisation. This was a carefully chosen term – it didn't constitute full-scale opposition, because by the tenet known as "democratic centralism" in Leninist Parties, any group opposing Party policy once it has been decided upon is liable to be expelled. By a natural process that maybe Darwin rather than Freud might have been able to explain :-) "tendencies" progress to "factions" that are either expelled, or leave on their own initiative to form a new group or Party. In due course of time, this process then repeats itself in the new group. Remarkably, the process does not seem to require a minimum size of group – to my knowledge it has happened in a group of around a hundred or so members, producing a splinter group from the original splinter group (technically known as "groupuscules"). We can see another example of the phenomenon of the narcissism of small differences in the current extreme hostility (mostly expressed on the internet) between atheists/agnostics/humanists who believe they should seek "accommodation" with moderate religious people (i.e. that the most important divide currently is between atheists and moderate religionists in opposition to religious fundamentalism), and those in the same camp who believe that it is important to keep emphasising the incompatibility between atheism and religious beliefs of any kind, and that that is where the divide really lies. Incidentally, Freud acknowledged that priority for the concept itself (though not the name that he coined) should go to the British anthropologist Ernest Crawley. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org ---------------------------------------- [tips] Freud's "narcissism of small differences". michael sylvester Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:06:44 -0700 I am in correspondence with another tipster who mentioned Freud's narcissism of small differences. I do not recall this term.Maybe our die-hard Freudians on Tips can elucidate. Michael "omnicentric" Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=5854 or send a blank email to leave-5854-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
