Resentment and Politics

Catalog description

Across the globe, political conflict is increasingly defined by the notion of resentment - defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "sense of grievance; an indignant sense of injury or insult received or perceived; (a feeling of) ill will, bitterness, or anger against a person or thing." In this Core Colloquium, we will endeavor together to better understand the role of resentment in politics. How should we define resentment, and how universal is this concept across cultures and nations? What tools or approaches can we use to assess its impact on contemporary political events? What are the relationships between resentment and desired end-states like equality, justice, and reconciliation? Course materials will include philosophical explorations, primary sources, conceptual mappings and empirical research on resentment. Students will also engage in basic data analyses exploring the causes and consequences of resentment worldwide.