printThe Regulatory Function of Resentment in Modern Society
Martianov V.S.
Dr. Sci. (Polit.), Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of UB RAS, Russia, Ekaterinburg, Russia martianov@instlaw.uran.ru
The article was carried out at the expense of the grant in the form of subsidies from the Federal budget for scientific projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development (project No. 23-075-67362-1-0409-000410).
Martianov V.S. The Regulatory Function of Resentment in Modern Society. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 5. P. 31-43
Conventional explanations of resentment rely on appeals to subjective factors – morality, values, emotions and moods. However, it appears that resentment has, above all, compelling ontological foundations, and its genesis and specificity can be described in terms of concrete historical group “views revealing resentment” (L. Fishman). This allows us to identify the objective political-economic foundations of resentful sentiments, linked to the dynamics of social structure and the foundations of social stratification. The situation of Modernity, with its universal public sphere, radicalizes resentment, transforming it into a universal mechanism for correcting social norms and regulating social group relations, constantly demanding the correction of inequality and injustice. At the same time, in the context of late or singular Modernity, a paradox is increasingly observed, whereby the indignation of citizens and social groups develops according to a scenario of implosion as internal self-poisoning and deviations, instead of active social resistance to the source of injustice. Passive resentment (hate on social media, complaints to authorities, COVID dissidence, etc.) is increasingly displacing open class struggle, resistance practices, and protests. It is de facto becoming the legitimizing foundation for a general conflict between frustrated social groups demanding compensation and appealing to their current and past sociocultural traumas and disabilities, suffering, and humiliation. Resentment-based social regulation manifests itself in post-truth technologies, double standards, cancel culture, positive discrimination against minorities, compensation for victims, and so on.
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