Amour-Propre Analysis

Amour-propre plays apart in establishing inequality because amour-propre is dependent on a society. Those who are wealthy are the dominant in society and therefore the opinions and their status is what secures their place in the community. Because people live in a society, they are forced to compare themselves to each other; the rich depend on the poor in order to thrive and the poor depend on the rich in order to survive. This is an inequality because one person benefits at the cost of another person whether that be in wealth, power, or social status. All these inequalities share a similarity by amour-propre because they are all based on other people’s economic or social ranking. If man did not live in a society, he would not be in danger …show more content…
While it is almost impossible to avoid having inequalities in any society, depending on others can help the society grow. There is an inherent quality in mankind in which he seeks for companionship and a community; within that desire, there is also the drive to be better than those he surrounds himself. That is a quality in man that, if not abused or perverted, can help the society be great. This is a healthy and natural idea for mankind and it does not promote or establish the inequalities in the society because the inequalities are already inherently present in the society. It actually uses the inequalities to seek and promote equality. It does this by manifesting a common goal which equally betters the society as a …show more content…
This is because the rich man will possess the other inequalities and this causes man to be at war with each other rather than allies; they are forced to fight for those inequalities. From this constant battle, the man who lives in the society will have to live outside of himself because he is subject to amour-propre. Every action he does is contingent upon other people and he is no longer living for himself or even within himself. This shows the inequality when juxtaposed to the idea of amour de soi, because the man who lives in self-preservation is living within himself and is not dependent upon others for survival. When one lives in amour de soi, they do not fall into the cycle of wealth, social status or power, they are just concerned with their own affairs which eliminates all inequalities. Amour-propre establishes inequalities in societies and highlights wealth as the greatest inequality because the once a man accumulates a great amount of wealth, he will attain all the other