On Passive Aggression

Abstract

Abstract This chapter defines passive-aggressive behaviour and explains why we find it objectionable. It argues that passive aggression essentially involves a hostile attack on a target, which is ambiguous in that, in addition to being correctly describable as such, from the point of view of the target and any onlookers, there is a somewhat plausible (yet false) interpretation according to which the behaviour is innocuous. Passive aggression is objectionable primarily because behaving passive aggressively impedes the agent’s social and professional functioning, and because it involves attacking the target in a way that makes it difficult for the target to challenge the behaviour. Further, behaving passive aggressively is bad for passive aggressors because it makes it more difficult for them to address their feelings of hostility, and it may exacerbate feelings of powerlessness.