With the advent of the Internet and social media, reputations have become vulnerable, fragile and elusive, but are also an indispensable and ubiquitous tool to determine how others see us and also to guide us in our choice of doctors, websites or brands.
Gloria Origgi, an Italian philosopher based in Paris, is a senior researcher at the Institute Jean Nicod at the National Center for Scientific Research. Her previous books include one on trust and another on the future of writing. In her latest publication, “Reputation,” Origgi tries to explain why reputation is so important personally and socially, how it gets distorted and how it influences what others say about us.
To start with it was a conference on reputation organized in Rome in 2007 which aroused Origgi’s interest in the subject. Then, four years later, in 2011, she gave a seminar at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris on the subject of reputation. During her stay at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University in New York in 2013, Origgi wrote the first part of this book, which was originally published in French in 2015.
Although reputation is a subject that affects everyone, little has been written about it. However, the need for such a book is not the only reason why it was so rapidly translated in English and published. Origgi has written a compelling, original and thought-provoking book that sheds light on the complex process behind the formation of a reputation.
Origgi writes: “The book raises two fundamental philosophical questions about reputation. First, can reputation be considered a rational motivation for action? What drives us to defend, improve or repair our reputation? And second, can reputation be considered a rational justification in the acquisition of information?”
One of the reasons this book is so readable is due to the eclectic approach chosen by the author. Origgi’s multi-disciplinary method spans practically all the social sciences, including sociology, economics, anthropology, cognitive science and linguistics. She has also used a profusion of examples drawn from literature and real life.
To understand who we are and how we see ourselves being seen we need to know that all of us have two egos and two selves. One is our subjectivity, a central philosophical concept, which is related to consciousness, personhood, reality and truth. The other ego, or self, is our reputation. This social self exerts control to a surprising extent. It does not really belong to us, but it is the part of us that lives in others. It triggers strong feelings, such as shame, embarrassment, self-esteem, guilt and pride, which are deeply ingrained in our emotional experience.
According to the book, more than a third of the homicides committed in the US have minor causes and most crimes without serious motives are committed due to honor, pride and reputation. So why do we attach so much importance to the image that others have of us, a representation that exists only in their minds?
“This book,” writes Origgi, “explores the hidden logic of our double ego. Reputation itself is strikingly enigmatic. How a good name is gained or lost is often inexplicable. Why some reputations are considered good and others bad can be equally obscure.”
All famous people are conscious of their image and they are ready to pay image consultants exorbitant salaries to manipulate other people’s ideas. We all enjoy the feeling that we experience when we think that we have been appreciated for what we are truly worth. However, the relation between the image that we project of our self and our true self is highly complex.
“Reputation is a cloud of opinions that circulates according to its own laws, operating independently of the individual beliefs and intentions of those who hold and communicate the opinions in question,” explains Origgi.
Surprisingly little has been written on the communicative nature of reputation. And yet, there is a basic difference between a mere opinion and what we believe we should think of someone after we have heard the opinion of experts we respect. Most of our opinions are influenced by the opinions voiced by writers and thinkers that we respect. We often believe what we read in newspapers or magazines without checking whether that opinion is based on true facts because we trust the writer or it happens to be the only information available at the time.
The author gives an interesting example of a debate between Mitt Romney and Barak Obama during the 2012 US presidential campaign. She had not followed the debate but embraced her friends’ opinions who claimed that Obama had performed poorly. When she finally decided to watch the televised debate, she realized how unjust she had been. Obama was nowhere near as bad as she had described him. He was, on the contrary, “more skillful and precise than Romney.”
Origgi adds: “The question this raises is why it is so easy to internalize and echo the viewpoint of others, unthinkingly, even when important issues are at stake.”
Origgi also examines how the Internet and social media contribute to the creation of formal and informal reputations. Social life is the informational trace of who we are. All our interactions generate bits of socially shared information that accumulate gradually to define how we are seen…others will observe our actions as pieces of information that tell them something about us,” she writes.
Nowadays, we can build our social image through social media, personal webpages and Facebook profiles. All this social information about us follows us everywhere. The web empowers us with the possibility to control our identity. On the other hand, our image and our identity can be manipulated, even hijacked. “Our dynamically shape-shifting reputation” contributes to the development of human personality. “Without consciousness of the interdependence between me and my image in the eyes of others, between my actions and my reputation, I cannot understand either who I am or why I act,” concludes Origgi.
Thanks to the web, we play an active and participative role in the development of our human personality and the shaping of our reputation. It is an important takeaway in what has proven to be an eye-opening book.
Book Review: Understanding why reputations are so important
Book Review: Understanding why reputations are so important
What We Are Reading Today: ‘The African Revolution’
- The African Revolution demonstrates that “the Scramble” and the resulting imperial order were as much the culmination of African revolutionary dynamics as they were of European expansionism
Author: RICHARD REID
Africa’s long 19th century was a time of revolutionary ferment and cultural innovation for the continent’s states, societies, and economies.
Yet the period preceding what became known as “the Scramble for Africa” by European powers in the decades leading up to World War I has long been neglected in favor of a Western narrative of colonial rule.
The African Revolution demonstrates that “the Scramble” and the resulting imperial order were as much the culmination of African revolutionary dynamics as they were of European expansionism.
What We Are Reading Today: "Beautiful Ugly"
- Alice Feeney is a New York Times bestselling author. In addition to “Beautiful Ugly,” she has also published “Rock Paper Scissors,” “Sometimes I Lie,” and “His & Hers”
Author: Alice Feeney
“Beautiful Ugly,” released in January, is a novel by British author Alice Feeney.
The story concerns Grady Green, an author, who is on the phone to his wife while she is driving home. During their conversation, he hears the screech of brakes as she spots an object on the road ahead.
Green’s tries to prevent his wife from leaving the car to investigate the object, before she mysteriously disappears.
To cope with his depression and grief, Green travels to an island in search of solace and perhaps a way to restore his life, particularly after losing sleep and his appetite for writing.
On the island, he is shocked to encounter a woman who resembles his missing wife, and the story takes another dramatic turn.
Although the novel has been rated by more than 87,000 users on Goodreads with an average of 3.6 out of 5 stars, some readers found the pace a bit slow.
“It’s a bit of a slow-burn mystery, which I feel is difficult to pull off since it doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time,” one of the reviewers commented.
Despite being a work of fiction, another reader found the narrative unreliable and unrealistic, making it difficult to connect the events. Nevertheless, most readers appreciated the author’s writing style and imagination.
“All in all, I don’t hate the book, but there is too much melodrama and theatrical antics for a thriller. Since this is my favorite genre, I tend to be quite particular about how I like these novels to be constructed,” another reader said.
Alice Feeney is a New York Times bestselling author. In addition to “Beautiful Ugly,” she has also published “Rock Paper Scissors,” “Sometimes I Lie,” and “His & Hers.”
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Shooting an Elephant’
- While Orwell’s self-awareness is commendable, some readers may find his portrayal of the Burmese people overly passive, raising questions about perspectives that remain unheard in this narrative
Author: George Orwell
George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” relates his experiences of a police officer in Burma who is called on to shoot an aggressive elephant that has broken free from its handler.
However, the essay — first published in 1936, and thought to be autobiographical — quickly turns into a searing indictment of power’s corrosive grip, with the unruly creature becoming a metaphor for the absurdity of empire.
Orwell sets the stage with quiet tension: the heat, the hostile stares of the Burmese, and the weight of his uniform. He is a man trapped — despised by those he governs, yet bound to the system he serves.
When the elephant rampages through a village, the crowd’s expectation becomes a noose around his neck. Orwell’s prose, stripped of sentiment, lays bare the hollowness of authority. He does not pull the trigger out of duty, but out of fear of appearing weak in the eyes of the villagers.
The essay’s brilliance lies in its ruthless self-exposure. Orwell refuses to cast himself as hero or even victim. Instead, he is complicit, a puppet of imperialism, forced to enact its violence in order to maintain the illusion of control.
Yet, one wonders: Does his introspection absolve him, or merely sharpen the hypocrisy? The dying elephant, gasping for air, is not just an animal, but a truth Orwell cannot escape.
Unlike traditional anti-colonial critiques that focus solely on oppression, “Shooting an Elephant” exposes the trap facing the oppressor.
Orwell’s shame is palpable, his confession unflinching. There is no redemption here, only the sickening realization that power does not liberate, but enslaves.
While Orwell’s self-awareness is commendable, some readers may find his portrayal of the Burmese people overly passive, raising questions about perspectives that remain unheard in this narrative.
The elephant falls, but the real tragedy is that no one — not the crowd, the empire, or even Orwell — walks away clean.
The bullet that kills the elephant also shatters the myth of imperial righteousness. And in that destruction, there is a terrible truth: Tyranny corrupts both the oppressed and the oppressor, leaving both bleeding in the dust.
What We Are Reading Today: Republics of Knowledge
Author: Nicola Miller
The rise of nation-states is a hallmark of the modern age, yet we are still untangling how the phenomenon unfolded across the globe. Here, Nicola Miller offers new insights into the process of nation-making through an account of 19th-century Latin America, where, she argues, the identity of nascent republics was molded through previously underappreciated means: the creation and sharing of knowledge.
Drawing evidence from Argentina, Chile, and Peru, Republics of Knowledge traces the histories of these countries from the early 1800s, as they gained independence, to their centennial celebrations in the 20th century.
Miller identifies how public exchange of ideas affected policymaking, the emergence of a collective identity, and more. She finds that instead of defining themselves through language or culture, these new nations united citizens under the promise of widespread access to modern information.
What We Are Reading Today: The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting
- Focusing on brittle fracture and rock friction, this book will appeal to graduate and research scientists in seismology, physics, geology, geodesy and rock mechanics
Author: Christopher H. Scholz
A massive earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand recently. Humanitarians are struggling to deliver assistance.
Why do earthquakes happen? “The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting” offers a study on connections between fault and earthquake mechanics, including fault scaling laws, the nature of fault populations, and how these result from the processes of fault growth and interaction.
Focusing on brittle fracture and rock friction, this book will appeal to graduate and research scientists in seismology, physics, geology, geodesy and rock mechanics.
