The Anatomy of Grievance

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. 

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(π/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(π/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