Crab mentality

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crab mentality describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither can you." The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs in which one tries to escape over the side, but is relentlessly pulled down by the others in the pot.

This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality. It is also often used colloqially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to "escape" a so-called "underprivileged life", but kept from doing so by those others of the same community or nation attempting to ride upon their coat-tails.

[edit] In different cultures

For Filipinos, crab mentality is the tendency to "outdo another at the other's expense"[1] or to "pull down those who strive to be better."[2] An overzealous leader becomes morally shamed.[3] It "became a call for community leaders to acknowledge indebtedness to others and to work for the good of the entire community and not just for themselves."[2]

In Hawaii, it is known as the 'alamihi syndrome, an 'alamihi being a local black crab. Hawaiians are criticized behaving like 'alamihi, which "always manage to pull down the ones who are trying to climb up and over the sides of a bucket."[4] Similar analogies are used against natives in other areas, such as Maoris in New Zealand, coastal Indians in Canada and the United States, and Chamorros in Guam.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beyond a Western Bioethics: Voices from the Developing World by Angeles Tan-Alora, Josephine M. Lumitao
  2. ^ a b Between Law and Culture: relocating legal studies edited by David Theo Goldberg, Michael C. Musheno, Lisa C. Bower
  3. ^ Honor and Shame: Unlocking the Door By Roland Muller
  4. ^ Ku Kanaka, Stand Tall: A Search for Hawaiian Values by George Hu'ei Sanford Kanahele. p.450.

[edit] See also

This article is uncategorized.

Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing, but not before.
This page has been tagged since April 2007.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/r/a/Crab_mentality.html"