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Cultural determinants of jealousy

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Abstract

I disagree with the practice of defining romantic jealousy in terms of other emotions, on the grounds that it is circular and redundant. Moreover, it appears implausible to me that the variety of private motives for protecting a relationship against an interloper can be accounted for by a unitary source of motivation, such as an emotion of romantic jealousy. I propose that the words romantic jealousy, instead of identifying an emotion of jealousy, refer to the situation characterized by the potential, or actual, loss of a loved one, or a mate, to a real or imagined rival. Reactions in such a situation, whatever they may be, are labeled as jealousy. On the basis of the assumption that individuals create culture to satisfy personal goals and are, in turn, affected by their cultural creations, I identify particular cultural factors as increasing the likelihood that an individual will be threatened by a jealousy event. The individual makes use of culturally sanctioned coping strategies for dealing with the threat. These concepts are discussed in the context of appraisal processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. California State University, Long Beach

    Ralph B. Hupka

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  1. Ralph B. Hupka
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Author's Note: Portions of an earlier draft of this article were presented in H. Sigall (Chair), Sexual Jealousy, a symposium at the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, 1977.

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Hupka, R.B. Cultural determinants of jealousy. J Fam Econ Iss 4, 310–356 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01257943

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