EPISODE · May 8, 2026 · 59 MIN
A**holes
from Hotel Bar Sessions · host Leigh M. Johnson, Jennifer Kling, Bob Vallier
So what exactly is an asshole? Is it a settled character type, or just a way of behaving that anyone might fall into on a bad day? Why does asshole behavior provoke us as it does, and why does it seem so much harder to resist now than it once was? If assholes are produced by social conditions (and they appear to be), what conditions produce them, and which ones might produce fewer?This episode takes Aaron James's 2012 bestseller, Assholes: A Theory, as its central provocation. James defines the asshole as someone (almost always a man) who "systematically allows himself to enjoy special advantages in interpersonal relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of other people." The HBS co-hosts work with this definition and push on it where it falls short. Bob makes the case that contemporary capitalism, supercharged by the compare-and-contrast machinery of social media, has transfigured a vice into a virtue: in our current moment, assholery is increasingly mistaken for strength. Jen draws on Rousseau's distinction between amour de soi and amour-propre to ask what social conditions cultivate the asshole disposition. And Leigh asks what we can do, practically, in our classrooms and in our daily encounters, to make environments less hospitable to assholes in the first place.Grab a drink and join us as we try to figure out what makes an asshole an asshole — and what, if anything, can be done about the apparent abundance of them in our current moment.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/aholes---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes!SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Patreon here! (Or by contributing one-time donations here!)BOOKMARK the Hotel Bar Sessions website here for detailed show notes and reading lists, and contact any of our co-hosts here.Hotel Bar Sessions is also on Facebook, YouTube, BlueSky, Instagram, and TikTok. Like, follow, share, duet, whatever... just make sure your friends know about us! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
What this episode covers
So what exactly is an asshole? Is it a settled character type, or just a way of behaving that anyone might fall into on a bad day? Why does asshole behavior provoke us as it does, and why does it seem so much harder to resist now than it once was? If assholes are produced by social conditions (and they appear to be), what conditions produce them, and which ones might produce fewer?This episode takes Aaron James's 2012 bestseller, Assholes: A Theory, as its central provocation. James defines the asshole as someone (almost always a man) who "systematically allows himself to enjoy special advantages in interpersonal relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of other people." The HBS co-hosts work with this definition and push on it where it falls short. Bob makes the case that contemporary capitalism, supercharged by the compare-and-contrast machinery of social media, has transfigured a vice into a virtue: in our current moment, assholery is increasingly mistaken for strength. Jen draws on Rousseau's distinction between amour de soi and amour-propre to ask what social conditions cultivate the asshole disposition. And Leigh asks what we can do, practically, in our classrooms and in our daily encounters, to make environments less hospitable to assholes in the first place.Grab a drink and join us as we try to figure out what makes an asshole an asshole — and what, if anything, can be done about the apparent abundance of them in our current moment.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/aholes---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes!SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Patreon here! (Or by contributing one-time donations here!)BOOKMARK the Hotel Bar Sessions website here for detailed show notes and reading lists, and contact any of our co-hosts here.Hotel Bar Sessions is also on Facebook, YouTube, BlueSky, Instagram, and TikTok. Like, follow, share, duet, whatever... just make sure your friends know about us! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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A**holes
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