In this post we will explain how mimetic desire works in groups.
Desire doesn't spread like information, it spreads like energy. This energy can lead to a cycle of positive desire, in which healthy desires gain momentum and lead to other healthy desires, uniting people in positive ways; or it can become a cycle of negative desire, in which mimetic rivalries lead to conflict and discord.
Mimetic conflict is contagious. It can lead to a social environment in which everyone is reacting mimetically to everyone else. This keeps people locked in cycles of endless conflict.
In a mimetic rivalry, the rival determines what a person wants next, which goals they pursue, what they think about when they go to be at night. If a person doesn't realize what's happening - it will bring them to the point of exhaustion.
Difference between Memes and Mimetic Theory
Memes are cultural units of information that spread from person to person through a process of imitation. Memes work in a similar way to biological genes: their survival depends on their being passed on and replicated as perfectly as possible. Memes are mostly discrete, static, and fixed. Memes spread more like a virus. The individuals who spread memes are simply carriers - hosts through whom the information passes.
In Girard's mimetic theory, people are not insignificant carriers of information - they are highly significant models of desire.
Cycles of Desire
Mimetic desire tends to move in one of two cycles:
Negative cycle: Mimetic desire leads to rivalry and conflict. This cycle runs on the false belief that other people have something that we don't have and that there isn't room for fulfillment of both their desires and ours. It comes from a mindset of scarcity, of fear, of anger
Positive cycle: Mimetic desire unites people in a shared desire for some common good. It comes from a mindset of abundance and mutual giving
Hierarchy of Values
Marketing, money and models distort desire for people if there is no clear hierarchy of values. Values can help an individual to order their desires. For many people, ordering desires starts out unconsciously. Whether we recognize it or not, our minds think in hierarchies all of the time. Without a hierarchy of values, which helps form and direct desires, we can't even begin to think about what to pay attention to and to what degree. A hierarchy of values is especially critical when choices have to be made between good things. If values are all equally important, or if there isn't a clear understanding of how they relate to one another, mimesis becomes the primary driver of decision making.
This post is a summary from a chapter in Luke Burgis book - Wanting
What is the difference between;
‘Spread like information’ vs ‘spread like energy’?