One of the things that manages to wind me more than anything else is self-promotion. Okay, I admit that on one level having a blog could be seen as a form self-promotion, so I'm probably talking to myself as much as anyone else when I write this post...
I'm constantly aware of the self-promotion of the web - sometimes facebook status updates make me cry out, 'Does this person have no shame!' as they blatantly self promote. I'm sure this is true of me too!
I was also listening to a talk from GB a few days ago, it lasted about 30 minutes and the person did nothing but self-promote. And no, I'm not going to tell you who it was...I was embarrassed listening to them!
Don't get me wrong, I think that it's right to celebrate what we do well but a level of honest humility is needed too.
Anyway, I was reading a book recently that was recommended to me a Greenbelt, the book is called 'The Spirit Level' and explores inequality within society and suggests that a more economically equal society is better for all people, those at both the top of the income scale and those at the bottom of it. It argues that many of the problems in society, from obesity to education are due to inequality, but and most significantly that this effects the whole of society not just the poor. The rich are also less content in an unequal society. Their levels of anxiety, depression and health also get worse.
Anyway, one of the conclusions of the book was about self-promotion, arguing that one of the consequences of an unequal society is 'Evaluation Anxiety'.
'Greater inequality seems to heighten people's social evaluation anxieties by increasing the importance of social status. Instead of accepting each other as equals on the basis of our common humanity as we might in more equal settings, getting the measure of each other becomes important as status differences widen.'
The result is that in a society where there is greater inequality there is greater self-promotion, as people are threatened by the social order. There will always be a person above you and in order to catch that person people need to self-promote.
Tags: self-promotion, Benedson,
