A History of Self-Esteem: From a Just Honoring to a Social Vaccine

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, self-esteem has become an almost routine way of talking about, thinking about, and acting upon human relations and on ourselves. Now firmly established in the lexicon of academic psychology, self-esteem was first used in largely theological and moral debates around pride and self-regard. However, from its inception, there were concerns about deficit and more particularly excess. The elusive nature of the “appropriate amount” of self-esteem has made it a constant resource for anxious debates about the state of the self, the action of psychological functions, and relations between the self and social structures. While debate over amount may have been a constant, the chapter shows how there have been significant shifts in beliefs about whether self-esteem was beneficial or not. A second constant in the history self-esteem has been its perceived role as some form of prompt to action, though that too has undergone change, and this facet of self-esteem has led to debates over how best to manage it for the benefits of individuals and groups. As a normative concept that has been considered as an impetus to act, as a source of inner pleasure, and as deriving from and contributing to social relations, self-esteem may be a concept over which psychologists now claim particular expertise, but it has been used in wider spiritual, moral, and sociopolitical debates. Developed as a scientific term within psychology, the history presented in this chapter also examines the enmeshment of the psychology of self-esteem with moral and social concerns.