Meanness

[2] These, in particular the final one, largely summarize the aspects of the classical definition of meanness that have been propounded by philosophers, Aristotelian and otherwise, over the centuries.

There are, in Curzer's contention "true prodigals", who are not merely young and foolish (as Aristotle would have prodigals be, and arguing thereby that youth and foolishness are curable — the former by simple dint of growing old — whereas meanness is not[5]) but "incurably wicked" and thus more proper exemplars of the vice, who demonstrate that it is just as much of a vice as meanness is.

[11] George Crabb described meanness as "[w]hatever a man does in common with those below him" and that "evinces a temper that is prone to sink rather than rise in the scale of society".

Seeking to save or to gain for oneself at the expense of others, in particular with respect to what one can afford to pay, "is denominated a mean temper".

[12] Henry Sidgwick in The Methods of Ethics held meanness to be both the opposite of liberality and generosity.

[13] Samuel Johnson wrote in The False Alarm that "[a]n infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty".

[19] Social science professor Valerie Walkerdine argues that "meanness is becoming a dominant motif for Western girlhood", as it fits well with the normative, repressive, boundaries of what is appropriate to modern femininity in work and school, and supports the narrative that empowered, successful, females cannot treat empowerment and success positively, but rather always risk slipping into cruelty.

[20] Sociology professor Jessica Ringrose contends that the "mean girl" stereotype from popular culture, as supported by what she criticises as "highly suspect" research in developmental psychology, is being increasingly taken up by policy makers in education.