Abstract

The psychosocial literature on envy has been reviewed. After discussing its bases, we have discussed the differences between .benign. and .malign. envy, and among them and a number of other feelings, mainly jealousy and "Schadenfreude" (i.e., the malign joy for another's failure). After differentiating between dispositional and episodic envy, we have discussed the consequences of envy, both for the envious person and for his/her target. Moreover, we have discussed the relations between envy, politics, and marketing. The possible developments of this literature are discussed.