Roses: A Social Hypothesis

Abstract

First published in 1897 in the avant-garde journal Jugend, Simmel’s fairy tale tells the story of the emergence of a sense of grievance about differences in the ability to grow roses which became constructed as a ‘terrible inequality’. Although moves were made to address this inequality so that everyone became able to grow roses, differences remained in how well different rose gardens grew, which in turn came to be perceived as an equally oppressive form of inequality. A translator’s note outlines the significance of the text for the sociological analysis of inequality and the pursuit of equality, placing it in the context of related theories of inequality, recognition, distinction, the narcissism of minor differences, and ressentiment.