Dear Editor,

Jamaicans are proud people who love their culture. We are known for music, dance and athletics. However, in reality, Jamaican culture is maladaptive for human flourishing.

The present Administration could preside over an economy with indefinite growth, but until we develop a progress-prone culture there will not be development.

Pundits have identified the usual cultural impediments to development, such as immediate gratification and wanton materialism. Yet there is a more sinister cultural barrier to progress, known as envy.

Envy may be defined as a feeling of discontent aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities or achievements. The manifestation of envy may be destructive or constructive. Acquiring higher education, starting a business and investing are constructive examples of envy. Such actions may increase one’s relative welfare and social standing in society. On the other hand, destructive envy expresses itself through aggression or the avoidance of progressive activities that may induce envy-motivated aggression (Gershman, 2013).

When envious individuals devote productive time to decreasing the welfare of talented individuals this only results in the waste of resources and delayed innovation (Zizzo and Oswald, 2001). It must also be noted that the major studies investigating the impact of envy on development tend to assess developing countries.

Envy traps poorer countries in poverty because it creates mistrust and reduces the social capital necessary for forming large-scale networks (Golooba-Mutebi, 2005). If individuals do not trust each other they are less likely to share ideas with outside networks and hence will lose valuable opportunities. According to Kebede and Zizzo (2011), in rural Ethiopian villages the fear of negative reaction from others prevents farmers from adopting innovations in agriculture. In Jamaica, we are yet to prove empirically that envy is hindering development, though citizens usually list it as a cause of misfortune.

Therefore, it would be instructive for politicians and scholars to seriously investigate the role of envy in the deterioration of trust and social capital. Economic growth will not bring prosperity unless we understand the cultural barriers and beliefs preventing Jamaicans from maximising their talents.

Lipton Matthews

lo_matthews@yahoo.com