Are we living in a society of resentment?

The first section of this article presents, from a sociological point of view, the problem—raised by Friedrich Nietzsche in the Moral Genealogy—concerning the question if are we living in a society of resentment. The second section reconsiders Nietzsche’s doubts on this problem and takes on the analytic perspective of René Girard’s mimetic theory. Section one and section two provide a basis for section three, which gives a theoretical and preliminary sketch of a dynamic and relational view of the notion of resentment. Section four puts forward a view of the link between resentment and modern institutions—this view is evolutionary, it is not the regressive view which Nietzsche’s interpretation of such a link presupposes.