The political dangers of pride

Experts on genocide and political violence often refer to emotions as part of the causes and dynamics of mass atrocity: fear, anger, hate, and pride. Yet these scholars have had surprisingly little to say about the emotions themselves. Wary of reducing history to matters of individual psychology, historians and social scientists have been particularly reluctant to think seriously about the pride and joy of the perpetrators of mass atrocities. The result has been a rigid, unconvincing portrayal of perpetrator psychology and the emotional aspects of collective violence.

In a new edited volume on emotions and mass atrocity, Senior Researcher Johannes Lang writes about the role of pride in genocide. Drawing on the long intellectual history of pride, Lang’s chapter explores the philosophical and psychological complexities of this emotion. On the one hand, pride is an inescapable component of the good life: an emotion that expresses a sense of recognition, dignity, and self-esteem—or even love. On the other hand, the word “pride” has sinister connotations of arrogance and hubris. In its many forms, pride is a source of both social order and political chaos. Pride, Lang concludes, is at the very foundations of modern nationalism and genocide.