Ethical envy is a concept developed in the book The Dialogic Society (2022). This term helps us understand many of the interactions and reactions of the people around us. When someone is considered ethically good but is not successful in other areas of life, they rarely provoke envy. The same happens when a person is successful but their ethics leave much to be desired. However, if that ethical person is also successful and perceived as attractive, envy and anger toward them increase.
Delving deeper into this idea, when such jealousy leads to serious attacks, different reactions may arise around the person. Some people join in those attacks driven by rage or envy, while others support and defend them. There are also those who distance themselves out of fear of being attacked. Within this last group, some simply withdraw. However, others cannot bear feeling guilty for not offering support, and in comparing themselves, feel so diminished that they direct their anger and envy toward that person and those who support them—blaming them for having put them in such a difficult situation, and even for not being able to remain in the spaces they previously shared and from which they themselves have chosen to step away.
Recently, I experienced something of this kind and confirmed what is already known: these types of interactions are very harmful—not only for those who suffer the attacks and those who support them, but also for those who feel the anger and envy and, most importantly, for educational and social transformation.
Coordinator of Learning Communities in the Basque Country