A Sense of Being Treated Unfairly Is Not the Same as “Zero Sum Thinking”

I want to take issue with one implication found in the Guardian piece quoted in my most recent post, Rage in the Rust Belt.

The author implies that the good folks in the Rust Belt are thinking in zero sum terms: if Blacks or Gays are getting some benefit, that must mean that good old working class white people like me are being deprived of that benefit. In other words, there’s only so much to go around, and if your tribe is getting more, that necessarily means my tribe is getting less.

Now, I am sure that a lot of working class white folks do feel exactly that way. And I am sure that Orange Jesus and his supporters and enablers have done everything they can to whip up such zero sum thinking. 

But … but … but …

As a matter of fact, and as a matter of logic, it’s entirely possible that you can legitimately complain of being “left behind” without thinking, fallaciously, that the reason you were “left behind” is that someone else got a benefit. 

In other words, resentful thinking—a sense that you’re being treated unfairly—is not the same thing as zero sum thinking. 

Zero sum thinkers are likely to be resentful, but not all resentful folks think in zero sum terms.