The Anatomy of Grievance
INTRODUCTION
Grievance
is one of the cornerstones of humanity. If a critical list was to be drawn of
what distinguishes mankind from many other species; capability to complain will
stand tall among stalwarts like Intellect, Pain, Emotional Quotient, Higher
Consciousness, etc.
Grievance
is one of the strongest inter & intra entity links, caused by both - real
& imaginary reasons. The aggrieved or aggrieving entity can be a person,
community, organization and even animals.
What distinguishes
grievance from many other human feelings, is its retention capability in the
memory of the aggrieved, besides the potential it embodies to
cause voluntarily or involuntarily impact on the thoughts and actions of the
aggrieved, any time, till a moment much later than the time of occurrence of
such grievance (could be years). Grievance, hence is an important aspect of
human relationship that needs to be addressed and handled. An aggrieved person
is an axe waiting to fall anytime, making the aggrieved carry this burden
(axe), while exposing the person perceived to have caused the grievance, under
the risk of vengeance or retribution for a long time. In some extreme cases this further induces a set of negative psychological phenomena in the aggrieving entity.
The
impact of grievance can be established by its valence (positivity or
negativity induced) and arousal (excited state of mind & body). Both
valence and arousal depend on the grievousness of the offending
act (real or as perceived by the aggrieved). The time for which
the grievance is retained is dependent only on the personality traits of the
aggrieved Party, with no influence of the perceived or really offending party.
Retention time therefore signifies a personality trait.
The
aggrieved, might undergo cognizable (recognized by self or by ambience) or incognizable (unrecognized by self or by ambience) impacts. A grievance (perceived or real) causes not only an
immediate reaction of the aggrieved but also leads to a long-term retention impact. In the mood space, which is created from
valence (positivity), arousal and the retention time axis, it is apt to
consider that grievance is a value in the valence-arousal plane changing in size every next
moment. It will lie in the space which is denoted by the blue box below (arousal(+),
valence (-) & retention(+)).
PARTIES TO GRIEVANCE
A
grievance can be held towards a person, ambience/circumstances, organization,
State - anything that is a cognizable entity. A grievance can also occur
against oneself, as also against God (a common proxy for grievance towards
oneself, circumstances or ambience). The moment the aggrieved & the
aggrieving co-exist in one person, it is emotionally, psychologically and
clinically disastrous.
Consequently,
a grievance is a resentment overt or covert that can happen against (i) an
entity (including oneself, organizations, owners & operators of machines
& animals, providers of goods and/or services); (ii) circumstances/time and
last but not the least against God or other perceived supernatural
objects/phenomena caused by real or imaginary reasons.
CAUSES OF GRIEVANCES
Grievances
happen owing to 2 classes of causes – real & imaginary:
Real
grievances happen owing to breach of (i) Commitment, (ii) Statute; (iii)
Conduct; (iv) trust amongst other.
Imaginary
grievances happen owing to breach of Expectations
MEASURE OF GRIEVANCE
Under-reported, Incognizable, Over-expressed and Disproportionately-reacted Grievances.
The
arousal-valence plane of the grievance space is required to be analysed to
arrive at a measure of grievance. Any grievance will lie on the left of zero on
valence (since it’s a negative emotion), and above of zero on arousal, since it
creates an arousal in the aggrieved. In ideal circumstances and in an ideal
human arousal and valence values should be linear – it is axiomatic to assume
that the more negative is the emotion, the more aroused will one be. But in
reality this is not how it happens. Sometimes the reaction (arousal) of the
aggrieved is much milder than what the negativity of the situation deserves and
sometimes, substantially more than anticipated. The former, are the grievances
whose coordinates lie below the valence=arousal line, while the latter are
those which lie above the said line. Therefore, those lying below the
valence=arousal line are under-reported (or sub-conscious/incognizable) impacts
of grievance and those lying above the said line are over-expressed (or disproportionate
reaction). In the figure below are two grievances – G1 & G2. G1 has an
under-reported or incognizable component of the amplitude of which is
represented by the distance of the G1 coordinates
(A1, V1) from below the valence=arousal line and denoted by X1.
(A1, V1) from below the valence=arousal line and denoted by X1.
The
ambiguity of G1 being an under-reported or incognizable grievance is removed by
studying its progression on the third axis – that is retention time.
Under-reporting
happens in case of highly controlled individuals, who can be assumed to have
very high level of control on their expression & hence can also be assumed
to be highly capable in dealing with the impact of the grievances &
resultantly expected not to carry it for very long, realizing that it will harm
them. Therefore, if G1 falls quickly towards (A1,V1) = (0,0) as retention time
progresses, G1 will have high probability of being an under-reported grievance.
In case it does not fall towards (0,0) it is probably under-cognized. In the
figure above R1 is an under-reported while R2 is under-cognized grievance. It
is important that the graphic representation of R lines in the 3D graph may not
be adequately pictured.
Similarly,
the over-expressed grievance will taper off to (A2,V2) = (0,0) pretty rapidly
with passage of time, while the disproportionately reacted grievances will
sustain for longer time, because disproportionate reaction is a
self-propagating mechanism, which ensures that the amplitude of negativity does
on reduce with retention time. Therefore, as shown in the figure above, R3 is
an over-expressed grievance while R4 is a disproportionate reaction grievance.
Amplitude of under-reportedness or incognizability of a Grievance
Therefore,
from the figure above it is possible to establish that G1 is an under-reported
grievance would it progress in time in concurrence to R1 and an incognizable
one wold it progress close to R2. The amplitude of under-reporting or
incognizability represented as X1 can be inferred from the mathematics below
and is equal to :
It is
apparent that θ2 = (π/4-θ1) such that θ1=tan-1(A1/V1)
ð θ2=(π/4- tan-1(A1/V1))
GL1 = (A12
+ V12)1/2
X1=GL1 x
sinθ2
ð X1=(A12 + V12)1/2
x sin(Ï€/4- tan-1(A1/V1))
Over-Expressed and Disproportionately-reacted Grievances.
Similarly,
it is possible to establish that G2 is an over-expressed grievance would it
progress in time in concurrence to R3 and a disportionately reacted one would
it progress close to R4. The amplitude of over-expression or disproportionate
reaction is represented as X2 (distance from the arousal=valence line) and can
be inferred from the mathematics to be equal to :
θ3 = (π/4-θ4) such that θ4=tan-1(V2/A2)
ð Θ3=(π/4- tan-1(V2/A2))
GL2 = (A22
+ V22)1/2
X2=GL2 x
sinθ3
ð X2=(A22 + V22)1/2
x sin(Ï€/4- tan-1(V2/A2))
Identification
of valence and arousal values can be done using various methodologies, which
will be presented in an innovative product.
DNSEA of Grievance
To
measure grievance it is important to define & describe it, rationally.
Using my
methodology (refer to my book 'Invention of Description') termed DNSEA,
‘grievance’ can be described as having below mentioned attributes:
Necessary attributes
Safety attributes
High
Amplitude of Grievance with the aggressor and aggrieved being the same person
is psychologically & clinically unsafe. Requiring professional help.
Fit-for-purpose attributes
Non-conformity
to a commitment, or promise, made or perceived to be made to the aggrieved by
the aggrieving party.
An action
real or perceived, intended or unintended of the aggrieving party that leads to
deterioration of the aggrieved party’s internal or external ambience leading to
a negative valence. External here means that which is perceived using the five
senses, while internal is that which is cognized without any inputs from
senses.
Sufficiency conditions
Changes in size, dimensions
§ If the impact of grievance
(arousal and valence) changes abruptly with time, the aggrieved party is
probably under mood swings.
§ If the impact of grievance
(arousal and valence) tapers fast with time the aggrieved party is a
psychologically strong and healthy individual
§ If the impact of grievance
(arousal and valence) survives long the aggrieved party is psychologically
self-inflicting and a weak individual.
§ Rare but possible is an infinite
plane in the mood space which is arousal=0. This means that there is no change arousal
but negativity that lives for long. These are traits of dangerous people of the
likes of Hitler.
Changes in properties
§ Ideally, the value of valence and
arousal should lie on the linear line arousal=valence. Nonetheless, it does not
happen this way in real life. If the value of valence vs arousal is
substantially larger, the grievance is either under-reported or under-cognized
(has a large subconscious component).
§ On the contrary, if the value of
arousal vs valence is substantially larger, the grievance is either
over-expressed or disproportionately reacted to.
Changes in Ambience
§ The change in the internal or
external ambience to an external perceived or real offensive stimuli or
non-fulfillment of commitments made to the aggrieved party, such that there is
a negative valence, indicates a grievance.
Changes in Ownership
§ Humans have this amazing
capability to vicariously feel emotions. The capability to transmit grievance
through emotional or intellectual conviction of the aggrieved such that the
otherwise, unconnected feels aggrieved too indicates a transmission of
ownership of grievance & thereby its propagation in society.
Emotional Connect of Doer
§ The doer of a grievance is the
aggrieving party. The aggrieved party may or may not undergo changes in the
emotional connect. The doer may express a grievance that is based on a cause of
action, or may imagine a cause of action for aggrieving someone.
Emotional Connect of Orderer
§ The orderer of a grievance is the
aggrieved party. The aggrieved party may or may not undergo changes in the
emotional connect.
Aesthetic Value
§ Aesthetic value in grievances is
very critical as it reduces the otherwise glaring negative valence.
Definition of Grievance
In view
of the DNSEA of Grievance presented above, one can conclude that Grievance can
be defined as
“the persistence
of overt or covert impact (ideal or under-reported or under-cognized, overexpressed
or disproportionately reacted to) of negativity in the directly/vicariously aggrieved
party, owing to (i) real causes like non-fulfillment of a commitment, trust, conduct
or statute; (ii) or imaginary causes like expectations, or (iii) by execution
of a real or imaginary act by an aggrieving party, which could be amongst other
– other people, oneself, organizations, owners & operators of machines
& animals, objects, providers of goods and/or services, ambience/circumstances,
and last but not the least God or other supernatural objects/phenomena real or
imaginary; such that all [(i), (ii) & (iii)] leading to deterioration of
the external and/or internal environs of the aggrieved”.
[External
environs are those that are perceived using the five known senses, while
internal environs are those which are cognized by brain without any inputs from
senses].
Measure of Value of Grievance
Interesting
to note two terms in the definition above - ‘impact of negativity’, not just
the negativity (hereby, making it mandatory to take both the valence as well as
the arousal in account). The ‘impact of grievance’ at any instance is the product
of valence & arousal, thereby denoting an area of the Arousal-Valence
plane. The other important term in the definition is the use of word
‘persistence’. Thereby, mathematically, making it pertinent to have the arousal
and valence values at multiple, regular instances (assuming they decrease with
time), and then integrate them across time to procure the value of the grievance.
Grievance,
therefore can be measured in Grievance-days, such that the value of a grievance
leading to 1 unit of arousal, -1 unit of valence and retained for 1 day will equate
to 1 grievance-day. If carefully observed, the calculation of grievance as
product of valence, arousal and retention time is analogous to energy (force x
distance x time, where force is arousal, valence is distance and time is
retention time) because a grievance causes loss of internal positive &
fruitful energy of the aggrieved party over time.
Why Anatomy of Grievance?
One might
wonder, what makes grievances so important that I have written a whole paper on
it!
All human-connecting
causes like love, hate, respect, or even physical attraction requires knowledge
of the counter-party, grievance is the only such interconnect of human beings
with each other, animals, animated non-living objects (like mountains, flooding
rivers, machines) and even imaginary entities (like God). This makes it the most
unique interconnect & emotion of humans.
Second reason
is the critical role that grievances, caused by real or imaginary reasons, play
in the socio-economic development of a society. A grievance adequately
addressed sometimes is an ally won.
Lastly,
the inspiration to sit, think, analyse & write this article on grievance came
on behest of C2SBook.com (under construction) through the process of creating a
foundation for the portal. C2SBook is a global portal for receiving and
supporting all (very literally ‘all’) ‘grievances’. C2Sbook is a central portal
for all people of the world available in all major languages to express
grievances and complains to then get them addressed through us irrespective of the
entities against which the grievance is held – a person, an organization, a place,
an event, an object (including products), a service, or government or God.
Enfin, I
am reminded of a Russian Proverb which says,
“I know complaining is a sin, yet
I want to do it”.
By
Deepak Loomba
