This is interesting because this is a different phenomenon from the one that I am highlighting, but it is also plausibly something that people mean when they say “Narcissism”. Also, this phenomenon does perhaps to some extent come up in some of my stories.
Oh wait, yeah I see. I think I was confused by your use of the phrase “narcissism” here and was under the impression you were trying to describe something more internal to one person’s worldview, but after reviewing your stories again it seems like this is more pointing at like, the underlying power structures/schelling orders. The ‘rebellion’ is against the local schelling order, which pushes back in certain ways:
in the example with Mr. Wilson, the local schelling order favors him. When Mr. Harrison arrives, Wilson is able to use his leveraged position within that schelling order to maintain it, and Harrison’s attempt to push back on the unjust schelling order is unsuccessful due to Wilson’s entrenched power causing others to submit to his overreach and not stand up for Mr. Harrison despite thinking Mr. Wilson is in the wrong. Everyone can dislike a given schelling order and yet maintain it anyway.
In the example with Lydia, the local schelling order, again favors her. Really her example is the same as the prior example, her argument (my passion/status/standing means the schelling order should be aligned with me) is the same as Wilson’s argument (my position in the community and dedication means the schelling order should be aligned with me), except in Lydia’s case, we’re seeing the behavior presented in example one at an earlier point in the social progression of logical time.
Then there’s Kite, the local schelling order disfavors Kite, and like Harrison, his attempt to push things in a direction that he sees as better: more beatific, more honest, more just, creative, etc etc, falls on deaf ears because he lacks any sort of schelling buy-in, the local schelling order finds him threatening/subversive/whatever and has the leverage to enforce their state of the world on him the same way Wilson was able to enforce his state of the world on Harrison.
Lastly let’s look at Mara, who is a less straightforward example, but that is ultimately still isomorphic to the first story. Mara in a sense is the local schelling order, as the business owner she defines the narrative to her business and can force anyone who wants to work for her to submit to that schelling order. At a wider scale, the schelling order is capitalism, and Mara is loyal to that schelling order, which means she’s focused on making her business succeed by those standards, and will push back against eg: employees perceived as slacking off.
This whole thing is really about power, and power dynamics in social environments. Who has it, what they’re able to effect with it, and how much they’re able to bend the local schelling points to their benefit using it. What you’re calling a “boundary placement rebellion” could be isomorphically described as a “schelling order adjustment”, it favors the powerful because they have greater leverage over that schelling order. Kite and Harrison’s attempt to move the schelling point failed because they were relative outsiders. Lydia and Wilson’s attempts to move the schelling point succeeded because they were relative insiders.
What you describe is probably a way to interpret the dynamics, but they were not my intended interpretation. 😅
The intent for Mr. Wilson was that he breaks the boundary that people get to manage their plots in the garden, but gets away with it because he is powerful.
The intent with Lydia is not meant to be that she has her behavior at an earlier progression, but rather that she achieves her goals through other means—relying on others in a sense.
The intent for Mara is that there isn’t any Boundary Placement Rebellion at all; she owns her bakery, and so of course she can set the business goals etc..
This is interesting because this is a different phenomenon from the one that I am highlighting, but it is also plausibly something that people mean when they say “Narcissism”. Also, this phenomenon does perhaps to some extent come up in some of my stories.
Oh wait, yeah I see. I think I was confused by your use of the phrase “narcissism” here and was under the impression you were trying to describe something more internal to one person’s worldview, but after reviewing your stories again it seems like this is more pointing at like, the underlying power structures/schelling orders. The ‘rebellion’ is against the local schelling order, which pushes back in certain ways:
in the example with Mr. Wilson, the local schelling order favors him. When Mr. Harrison arrives, Wilson is able to use his leveraged position within that schelling order to maintain it, and Harrison’s attempt to push back on the unjust schelling order is unsuccessful due to Wilson’s entrenched power causing others to submit to his overreach and not stand up for Mr. Harrison despite thinking Mr. Wilson is in the wrong. Everyone can dislike a given schelling order and yet maintain it anyway.
In the example with Lydia, the local schelling order, again favors her. Really her example is the same as the prior example, her argument (my passion/status/standing means the schelling order should be aligned with me) is the same as Wilson’s argument (my position in the community and dedication means the schelling order should be aligned with me), except in Lydia’s case, we’re seeing the behavior presented in example one at an earlier point in the social progression of logical time.
Then there’s Kite, the local schelling order disfavors Kite, and like Harrison, his attempt to push things in a direction that he sees as better: more beatific, more honest, more just, creative, etc etc, falls on deaf ears because he lacks any sort of schelling buy-in, the local schelling order finds him threatening/subversive/whatever and has the leverage to enforce their state of the world on him the same way Wilson was able to enforce his state of the world on Harrison.
Lastly let’s look at Mara, who is a less straightforward example, but that is ultimately still isomorphic to the first story. Mara in a sense is the local schelling order, as the business owner she defines the narrative to her business and can force anyone who wants to work for her to submit to that schelling order. At a wider scale, the schelling order is capitalism, and Mara is loyal to that schelling order, which means she’s focused on making her business succeed by those standards, and will push back against eg: employees perceived as slacking off.
This whole thing is really about power, and power dynamics in social environments. Who has it, what they’re able to effect with it, and how much they’re able to bend the local schelling points to their benefit using it. What you’re calling a “boundary placement rebellion” could be isomorphically described as a “schelling order adjustment”, it favors the powerful because they have greater leverage over that schelling order. Kite and Harrison’s attempt to move the schelling point failed because they were relative outsiders. Lydia and Wilson’s attempts to move the schelling point succeeded because they were relative insiders.
What you describe is probably a way to interpret the dynamics, but they were not my intended interpretation. 😅
The intent for Mr. Wilson was that he breaks the boundary that people get to manage their plots in the garden, but gets away with it because he is powerful.
The intent with Lydia is not meant to be that she has her behavior at an earlier progression, but rather that she achieves her goals through other means—relying on others in a sense.
The intent for Mara is that there isn’t any Boundary Placement Rebellion at all; she owns her bakery, and so of course she can set the business goals etc..