ABSTRACT
All one has to do is watch children at play. Not only do they compete with one another for priority, but their joy at being able to best one another is often exuberant. They will jump up and down in celebration, taunt one another as to who is the winner, and perform in-your-face victory dances that would be the envy of any professional athlete. Children love to win and hate to lose. Moreover, they love to rub their competitors noses in their losses. They want the whole world to know that they have proven superior. Some might argue that this extreme delight in ranking higher than others—even if it is only temporary—is a learned behavior. They would contend that parents who are themselves embedded in a competitive society socialize it. Were our civilization free of the taint of its capitalist heritage, and therefore liberated from a generalized desire to defeat others, the pleasure derived from crushing one’s opponents would fade into nothingness.
