Narcissism of Small Differences

Originally coined by Sigmund Freud in 1917, the term “narcissism of small differences” is based on an earlier idea posited by an anthropologist named Ernest Crawley that gestured at a taboo people may feel when operating as part of a larger group.

Though we may give up something of our individuality when part of a group, the theory goes, we still have a fundamental sense of independence that causes us to notice small distinctions between even highly similar—to the point of being nearly indistinguishable from each other—people.

So even when we’re marching with a group of peers who believe the same things we do, politically, and even if we might we feel very close to these other people in that moment, we will still tend to notice differences, and in some cases even internally emphasize those differences, because some part of us wants to retain our individuality instead of feeling like just one atomic unit of a larger entity.

This tendency—whatever its underlying motivations and triggers—is most evident when we look at other groups of people and the rivalries and conflicts within those groups.