Conclusion: The Narcissism of Minor Differences?

Abstract

In some of his writings, Sigmund Freud (for example, 2004) argued that the smaller the real differences between two peoples, the larger it is bound to loom in their imagination, a phenomenon he called the ‘narcissism of minor differences’. In fact, Freud noted, conflict often occurred between individuals and groups who appeared highly similar even to the point of being doppelgangers or identical twins. Freud, however, stopped short from arguing that the existence of close resemblances between groups was more likely to induce conflict compared to when a large physiological or cultural chasm was present. Nevertheless, the idea of the narcissism of minor differences has been resurrected in recent decades by commentators seeking to comprehend the seeming surfeit of ethnic conflicts which have emerged particularly since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Many of these conflicts, as we noted at the beginning of Chapter 1, seem to be fought between groups who share so much and who often appear indistinguishable for outsiders.