A Selective History of Classic and Neo-Social Comparison Theory

Abstract

In this chapter, we provide a historical context for the chapters in this handbook. Although we will cover some of the same ground as the previous brief history, we also provide an update of developments during the 1980s and 1990s. Perhaps with almost 20 additional years of research and theory, we will find that the tracks in the backyard no longer appear to be quite as haphazard. On the other hand, they may appear to be even more so, as a fundamental phenomenon - comparison with others - refuses to be contained by its previous constructions