By Karen Sternheimer
There is no shortage of hand-wringing about social media sites like Instagram enabling people to compare themselves with others, presumably leading to outcomes like depression and other mental health challenges.
But social media did not start social comparison—it is woven into the fabric of many of our social institutions. As it is relatively new, social media gets the lion’s share of attention, focusing on how it operates and its constant accessibility. The algorithms, the devices, the newness drives attention and criticism.
Perhaps the better question isn’t how one form of social comparison works, but why social comparison is practically everywhere, even in places where we are so used to it that we barely notice.
This came to mind while recently completing a trail race. Runners chose distances of 100 miles, 100 kilometers, 50 miles, 50 kilometers, or 30 kilometers (my choice). I volunteered to help organizers check in the longer distance runners before my race started.
It’s hard not to compare yourself to someone who is able to run more than 5 times as far (math helps us quantify social comparison). The 100k people compared themselves unfavorably to the 100-mile runners, often noting that they were “just” doing the 100k (over 62 miles!).
When describing my 30k event to non-running friends and family, many responded as though I was nuts to run that far, especially on hilly terrain. I described my event as the “junior circuit” or “entry level” event. Running apps like Strava even allow you to compare your pace, weekly mileage, and even heart rate with other runners.
It’s hard not to compare yourself to someone passing you, especially at a fast pace, when you are struggling up a hill. It’s also hard not to get excited about passing someone else. Official race results note who won, how you compare to people in your age and gender group, quantifying social comparison. Most sports engage in some form of social comparison, from batting averages, points scored, shooting efficiency, pass completion rates, and so on.
Sports are not the only social institution to highlight social comparison. Education uses a number of measures that promote social comparison. Did you look at the US News & World Report rankings when considering a college? Metrics like median SAT scores, GPAs, class rank, graduation rates and donation rates rely on social comparison.
Have you ever taken a test where you were graded on a curve? This is a formal implementation of social comparison embedded into highly competitive programs. Faculty are compared based on their publications, specifically the journal impact factor which evaluates the ranking of journals by how often others cite their work.
The workforce is rife with comparisons: how productive are you compared with colleagues? What are your sales numbers like in context with others? Charitable organizations and websites often publish donations given by others that create social pressures not just to give but to give as much as others.
Have you been compared with your siblings? Other people in your age group to determine the normality of your height and weight on medical charts? When you were a baby, your milestones were probably compared with expectations based on other babies to determine your overall health. Social comparison takes place from birth in industrialized nations.
Back to the question of why.
Social comparison is not simply natural or inevitable. It is the product of a social structure rooted in economic competition that stems from technological advances that enable us to measure things that we take for granted now. From bathroom scales to intelligence tests, over the last century measurement became a rational way of sorting people during a time of urbanization and the increased bureaucratization.
Measuring weight and height led to the creation of the Body Mass Index (BMI), which was used to try and predict health outcomes. This was also used to assess life insurance premiums—not based on actual science of longevity, but as a way of justifying higher rates to some people.
Intelligence (IQ) testing emerged as compulsory education expanded in the early twentieth century to determine how many resources would be devoted to students. The lower the IQ, the fewer resources devoted. During World War I the tests were used to determine what roles military recruits were allegedly best suited to serve. The first SAT test emerged shortly after to try to assess who was most likely to succeed in college. These standardized tests have spread throughout the education system, with the primary purpose being to compare students’ abilities.
Social media feels revolutionary, but opportunities for social comparison have been proliferating for over a century. What other examples of social comparison are embedded in social institutions that we often overlook?