Pankaj, M.: Age of anger - A history of the present. Allen Lane (2017).

Book summary, October 2020

This book is an intellectual tour-de-force through one of the most pressing questions of our time: Why is there so much anger and hate in many parts of the world, leading to violence and sometimes disastrous political outcomes? The author convincingly argues that there is an underlying reason: the feeling by many people of not belonging and not being able to participate economically, politically and socially. The book draws interesting parallels to the 19^th century, where a similar feeling persisted in many European countries, leading to catastrophic consequences in the 20^th century. While sometimes maybe a bit too bleak and pessimistic, the book should be taken as a major warning to prevent history from repeating itself.

Where does the anger come from?

Through the "modernisation" of social and economic life, people lose their traditions and roots, which generates a feeling of insecurity. As they are looking for purpose and security, it is decisive whether their corresponding hopes in the governing political and economic system are fulfilled. These hopes are greatly fueled by a “mimetic desire”, i.e. the wish to catch up with other countries or parts of society in terms of wealth and opportunities. If these hopes are not fulfilled, this leads to anger, hatred, and radicalization.

Anger, hatred and radicalization are exacerbated by ruthless political leaders such as Duterte (Philippines), Putin (Russia) or Shinawatra (Thailand). Such leaders thrive on the need of people to increase their self-worth through a sense of belonging to an ethnic group, a religion or a race; often, this is reinforced by projecting fears and hate towards a common enemy.

Where can we see this nowadays?

This phenomenon is becoming increasingly evident in the 2010s, because the era after the end of the Cold War in 1989/1990 started with high hopes of political freedom and economic prosperity. The recipe to achieve this was a combination of democracy, a globalized, market-based economy, and the nation state. The hopes of many people, both in industrialised and emerging countries, have by now been replaced by disappointment and the feeling that a large part of the population does not benefit from the current system.

This feeling of disappointment and not-belonging has led to the success of radical movements around the world (Hindu nationalism in India, the Islamic State, …), the rise of authoritarian leaders in Brazil, China, Poland, Russia, Turkey and the US, and political decisions such as Brexit. Even more extreme manifestations are right-wing terrorists in Germany, Norway and the US, and terrorists calling themselves “Islamic”. All these phenomena have the same roots. We can also see this increasing radicalisation in popular culture, with nationalistic media productions from Bollywood or from Turkey (e.g. “The Conquest 1453” movie).

Which parallels can be found in the 19^th century?

Today’s situation is very comparable to 19^th century Europe, i.e. at the beginning of the modern era. During this period, industrialization lead to poverty and inequality, and ultimately to hatred against the bourgeoisie and minorities, particularly Jews, as well as against other countries. This was particularly visible in Germany, but later also in many other countries such as Hungary, Italy, Japan and Poland.

What were the intellectual roots in the 19^th century?

An important starting point is the Age of Enlightenment, and especially Voltaire. While the latter had a very top-down approach to society, he paved the way to a modernization, especially with respect to the political and economic system. The French revolution can be seen as a consequence of his thinking, and this revolution showed that history does not have to be endured, but that it can be shaped.

The German romantic movement was a strong reaction towards the political and cultural influence Napoleonic France exerted on Germany. It quickly radicalized to cultural nationalism, which shows that latecomers such as Germany tend to display extreme reactions (Fichte and Herder are examples for Germany, Dostoyevsky for Russia). Political nationalism followed soon, with calls for a “holy war” against the French by the German Theodor Körner. By the end of the 19^th century, war had become a popular idea in many European countries, especially amonst the elites. Thus, there was a long intellectual build-up towards the catastrophes of the 20^th century.

Where does this leave us?

As argued by Max Scheler, resentment seems to be an integral part of societies where there exist social equality but also massive disparities with respect to power, education, social status and wealth – a feeling nowadays exacerbated by social media. We need to think more about our role within a culture which fosters insatiable vanity and blunt narcissim.