Extra Credit: Wilkinson and Pickett

I found it extremely interesting that the relationship between the development of a country (usually measured in average income per person) and other measures of well-being (like life expectancy, happiness, or health and social problems) were not quite directly correlated. For most analyses, there was some direct relationship between two variables, but usually, at a certain point, having too many possessions leads to a plateau in the relationship. Wilkinson and Pickett account for these trends as a result of the stress from the pressures of inequality people feel in certain developed countries (namely, the United States). Yet surprisingly, there has also been found a rise in self-esteem in these very same countries, though Wilkinson and Pickett categorizes it as threatened egotism in which “People…tend to be insensitive to others and to show an excessive preoccupation with themselves, with success, and with their image and appearance in the eyes of others” (2009:37). In other words, people living in unequal societies (often composed of a population of strangers) have an aggressive inclination in creating a self-image that establishes that they are of high-status to others around them.

I agree with Wilkinson and Pickett’s findings on increased threatened egotism in the era of industrialized societies, and I think one way we can examine this data is by studying the use of social networking sites. A developed nation usually implies that the country is technologically advanced, that ownership of computers and internet access is prevalent. Thus, it would be no surprise that computer users would have accounts on social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, especially since such sites are becoming increasingly popular among people of all ages, though predominantly among teenagers and young adults.

Social networking sites facilitates the proliferation of threatened egotism in developed , unequal countries because they provide an environment that is obsessed with perfecting the self-image. Usually these sites encourage one to choose a profile picture, and oftentimes people choose an image that portrays them in the most flattering way. These sites offer opportunities to post “status” or “updates” on people’s lives, and, although these can be about a variety of topics, this provides for a way to users to boast about accomplishments or new possessions they have received. Additionally, these sites are centered on networking, thus having a lengthy friend list and comments from friends can provide insight on how popular a user is. Social networking sites then are highly fixated on egotism, and the increased usage of such sites only promotes an idea that we as a society should be consumed with our self-image. Thus, these provide an outlet for the intensification of threatened egotism in these developed, unequal societies.