Sociology of Jealousy: From Resource Protection to Cultural Scenario Introduction: Jealousy as a Social, Not a Psychological Phenomenon Although jealousy is often considered a deeply personal, irrational emotion, its sociological analysis reveals systemic foundations. Jealousy is not just a pathology of the individual, but a social affect structured by cultural norms, economic relations, and gender orders. It functions as a mechanism of social control, regulating access to resources (emotional, sexual, material) and maintaining established forms of relationships. Sociology studies jealousy not as a disease, but as an indicator of social agreements regarding ownership, fidelity, and boundaries of privacy. 1. Evolutionary-Sociological Foundations: Partnership Protection as a Resource From the perspective of sociobiology and evolutionary sociology, jealousy emerged as an adaptive mechanism aimed at protecting critically important reproductive and social investments. Strategic resource protection: In the context of long-term care of offspring (characteristic of humans), a partner is a key resource. Jealousy, especially male, focused on sexual infidelity, historically served as a guarantee against investing resources in another's offspring. Women's jealousy, as research shows (David M. Buss), is more often focused on emotional infidelity, threatening the diversion of a partner's time, attention, and material resources from her and their children. Protection of social capital: Partnership is not only a biological but also a social alliance uniting kinship networks, status, and economic opportunities. The threat of the collapse of this alliance means the loss of a significant part of social capital, which generates an intense affective reaction. Interesting fact: Cross-cultural studies by anthropologist David R. Lane demonstrate that in societies with a high degree of confidence in paternity (e.g., in some matrilineal societies) or collective child-rearing, instituti ... Read more