Social 2(SO2)

Pride in the Social Sphere

Once the social instinct meets the Pride of a 2, it transforms said pride into someone who is often referred to as a social climber. Pride here takes form as feeling worthwhile when achieving a position they are after. They are the coldest and most intellectual 2, as to go out and conquer you need to know how to use your mind, for this reason they like to be seen as people of reference. Because of this, their seduction comes from the intellectual, they are also very efficient in working with people, being great with networking and interacting in the social sphere. Often a social 2 lacks a figure to look up to, and because of this they want to become that figure, going from a lonely child to a parent of everyone. They are also often counter-dependent, meaning rather than being dependent on others and acting the way the other wants them to, they are the ones to push others into playing the court for them, though often there is a person in the SO2s life who they are dependent upon, whether they can admit it consciously or not. They treat themselves as above others and this can manifest as both selfishness for status or a savior complex.

Ichazo titled SO2 "Ambition", it was linked to a prideful individual who exceeds at climbing the social or business ladder, an importance and superiority that are nurtured by leadership. Naranjo defined it as someone whose pride translates into ambition and social seduction, the most intellectual and emotionally cold among the 2s, someone who couldn't be considered "a silly blonde".

Trait Structure

Cold

Within E2, who is the most emotional type, this is the least so among the three subtypes. If the defense mechanism of the E2 is repression, which turns unconscious the thoughts, cravings, and necessities regarded as unacceptable, in the social E2 this strategy leads to an almost complete cooling of emotions. There are times in which, faced with a significantly painful happening, he “freezes” and loses contact with part of his emotional world.

The social E2 can therefore remain impassible with nothing and no one able to question his aggrandizement. If anyone saw that he cannot do something, that he doesn't know or isn't worthwhile, it would be catastrophic because a self-referential must not ever allow himself to fail. At the same time, this coldness and hardness protects him and helps him cover his terror of being once again betrayed and that no one catches him in a fail. “To protect himself, he sometimes laughs at his feelings or ironizes them, in an attempt to avoid them, or altogether trivializes and doesn't own them.”

He shows himself immensely empathic and emotional when he is set to conquer. Just as he is emotionally indifferent once it doesn't interest him anymore or when he abandons it for another conquest.

The social E2 can go, from a deep subjectivity, to transgressing the norms thanks to his ease in diverting responsibility for his acts, nullifying his emotions, justifying inadmissible deeds, focusing all of his energy on the object of his ambition, above the current moral codes or certain general conventions.

To avoid contact with his inner lack and vulnerability, he shows himself only from his surface, with a hidden fear, keeping everyone from knowing his darker, more needy, and defective side. Or rather he covers the mistakes he makes with lies and arrogance, defending himself with total vehemence and a certain air of innocence, which overwhelms or pushes others away.

Egocentric

His zest for being in the center of attention; giving, organizing, doing, or talking, is another way in which he pales in his sense of solitude and insufficiency, as he confirms the conviction in being the center of the universe. He thinks that from this place no one will be able to question him, nor degrade him by taking him away from the stage from which he receives a transient admiration that he mistakes for love.

Ultimately, he is infatuated with himself; he is his most interesting conquest. In this perspective, he interprets the behaviors of others as referring to himself, be it positively or negatively. And demonstrates a great talent in entangling others for the satisfaction of his necessities.

Demanding and Hypercritical

Inside the social E2 there is a feracious and insatiable inner father, who shows himself demanding, cold, and without compassion, in the form of two coexistent inner currents. One does not tolerate that he diverts from the ambition and ideals that he has fixated. Only when reaching them will he value himself positively, although for a brief period of time, which will rapidly turn to another objective or territory to conquer. The other current, which flows in parallel, is an aggressive intentionality, a buried anger not always conscious, which is normally directed at himself, neglecting his personal care, health, resting times, or allowing himself to receive affection or care.

The social E2 follows an interiorized message from the parents: “Whatever you do, it's never enough.” Because of this he resorts to self-indulgence, occasionally; so that he can lower his own prosecutory angst or negative judgements that he elaborates about himself, and which he sees in the look of whom he has validated as an authority.

Sometimes, he can simulate withdrawal but as a way to demonstrate how without himself nothing works.

And this anger against the self also finds a way of discharge onto others in competition or despise.

As Karen Horney says, these are two sides of the same coin: “The proud develops a series of values that determine what he accepts in himself, of which he must be glorified and be proud of. But this system of values has to determine what must be rejected, disdained, and hated; and one is inseparable from the other. Pride and self-hatred are two expressions of the same process.”

Depreciative

Similarly to E1, the social E2 has invalidated his progenitors in some way and has developed, although this remains in the shadow, a profound despise for mistakes, imperfection, slowness, stupidity, pessimism, or fragility, both in himself and others. 

This devaluation starts to generate itself in the oedipal phase, with the polarization of the maternal and paternal figures, where one is idealized and the other despised, and then afterwards depreciating both. This leaves him, invariably, in a relational place in which he doesn't belong and that is horizontal or above the parents. By devaluing them, he lacks parental figures to idealize and with which to identify. This, in turn, will be the seed for not recognizing, as an adult, the power-figures, self-referencing as the only trustworthy authority.

Rebellious and Tyrannical

Ever since childhood they have realized how being close to authority provides him a deal of favors and benefits compared to his equals. They have learnt that holding privileged information or taking part in decision-making gives him a certain power.

Thus, the social E2s characterize themselves by believing to know better than others or that they are more efficient than the rest and by depreciating, like proper envious, others’ attributes. It is truly complicated for them to give up authority for someone, above themselves and their own convictions.

In many biographies of social E2s there are life-stories of certain intensity and instability. These experiences, mixed with their ideas of grandiosity and importance, make him believe that they have certain privileges or that they're above others.They could resemble a conservation E2 in this; notwithstanding, they are different in that the ambitious do this from a manifested anger and a superb and despot demandingness.

They have their own moral code, with which they decide what norms should or shouldn't be respected. This regulamentation can change over time, at his whim, if the circumstances require it, showcasing a total indifference to the ethical implications of other natures. They use and abuse a selective memory in regards to responsibility in his issues.

The lack of clarity with respect to his roles and the absence of limits within the subsystems of the family suppose the greatest obstacle for a social E2, to manage the tasks related to taking authority. This character at times wants to be a brother (colleague), and at others, a father (leader) to the group.

With his critical thinking, scathing and depreciative, and his narcissistic fantasy of omnipotence, doubts that someone can lead him. Somehow stores in memory that one day he delivered himself, naively, to his parents’ will, and was used and betrayed. Since then there is suspiciousness towards authority.

Intolerant of limits

The social E2 doesn't realize that there are external limits to getting what he desires nor to his possibilities. Curiously, given his aggressive and confrontational ways, neither does he know how to impose them to others (even if through humiliation). Because he can't register abuse or aggression as such, and may humiliate himself so as not to lose a relationship. Moreover, the pain he feels in the possibility of loss isn't so much related to the bond itself as it is to contacting the idea of not being worthy and the following abandonment, which would be an even greater humiliation. 

Intolerant of critics

Without relating to his own frustrations, the ego grows exponentially, because it is very difficult for people of this subtype to sustain the possibility of failing or being defective to the eyes of others, as well as risking himself to receive any type of criticism, which seem unbearable.

Competitive

Due to this exalted image of self there is no possible competition. If we were to ask a social E2 whether they are competitive, the answer would be a definitive no.

He “knows” that he is better and wants to be given the place he is due. And even though he can maintain an attitude of temperance, security, and confidence, not always does it come to fruition. Entering competition means wanting something one doesn't have and this could make him enter contact with an inner lack, need, or with envy, which underlie his character; or even more terrifying, with the emptiness that renders him incapable.

His ego cannot sustain the idea of there being a worthy enough adversary to be taken into account. He has already defeated the most difficult and powerful one as a child; mommy or daddy. Since then exists his taste for conquering the giant, only to then depreciate and abandon it. The buried fear is that, if he can't, he will become what he is most afraid of being: useless. Then will arrive despise and exhibit being abandoned, like in childhood, to a chaotic emotional world and to solitude.

The person of this character has constituted her self-esteem around being worthy and useful to others. If she can't achieve this, there's the threat of not being worthwhile and the following abandonment. “Everyone leaves, or I make them” they may say, but that's nothing but another way of confirming a narrative of orphan-hood and the need to be self-sufficient. Faced with this failure, the social E2 recomposes himself, isolates fear, belittles the heart, freezes his emotions and swears he will need no one.

Hunger of success and Blindness to failure

The person of this character has incorporated, early in life, the expectations that laid upon her, which drove her to have exit in whatever it is that she purports to. Thus she is not, in absolute, prepared to fail. Thanks to her fantasy, the defense mechanisms of repression and sublimation, and her self-concept of grandiosity, she camouflages it so skilfully that it can't be seen. 

Ever since she was little she would talk eloquently about herself as someone who does many things, of which she is certain; and that “all” are done well, which is not as certain. The key is in the adults believing her and giving motivation to keep being this way, so that she may feel admired and also quite very powerful. Sees herself as capable of convincing others, including of her lies. This way she incorporates an image of herself in which she is expected to do important and innovative things, and that she is successful in all she does.

The social E2, when getting to adulthood, tries to reproduce the same situation imagining lots of projects, and telling this as if it were done as a little boy or girl. Thus almost all energy is focused on professional life, mistaking the conquering of territories with receiving love. This way he is kept in contact with constant objectives that allow him to develop his self-image as competent and admirable.

He is an expert in sublimating every setback and makes others see that, even under pressure, his efforts don't cost him. Recollecting himself exhibits in his different personal and professional campaigns, and this benefits him in such a way that he keeps the feeling of accomplishing everything he purports himself. Nonetheless, even though he achieves important merits, he sells more than he can give. In this light he can't see how many casualties have been left in his way, and that he does not share, confirming his own neurosis.

Failure in the working ambit is one of the few opportunities a social E2 will have to realize how far can his self-sabotage and the pain he inflicts on others.

All energy, creativity, effort, and passion that he puts in work is done in detriment to his personal life. He sees all that is amorous, familiar, fraternal, or his own physical and mental health, as a moorland he only visits. He has gotten to the point of forgetting to play, or enjoying the world of love and affection; all of it to avoid connecting to his own vulnerability.

Taken to an extreme, the social E2 won't care about his alimentation, nor his health and most basic and urgent necessities, that he considers inopportune, faced with tasks of higher priority, that are the ones deserving of his attention.

When he fails, the social E2 hides at home or escapes by seeking big innovations in life: changing his social surroundings, his partner or work, maybe even his country. Or he may have refuge in different addictions, such as sex, drugs, gambling... or work, which is the most beloved and prioritized thing for him. Among the Ennea-types, we may definitely define him as the workaholic.

If he can't keep a romantic relationship, he will center on friendships to deaden the emptiness. Even then, if he fails professionally, projects are redirected to the partner with bigger expectations and demands, planning trips, setting rules to her life and trying to “improve” her, as if he had the strategic manual of the good partner; in this way he projects his own ambition onto the other.

This obsessive drive to success may manifest itself in the formula of “it's never enough,” coincident with the message received from the maternal figure: “you are not, and not ever, enough.” Every goal accomplished isn't turned to anything if not the fragile confirmation of his grandiosity and indispensability, but the emptiness is insatiable and demands constant conquers and astounding deeds.

Envious

Envy is the monster of the social E2. Realizing that he envies would be contacting needs, something he lacks, and this would lead him to inadequacy and the emotional void. Contrary to E4, he uses envy as a drive to overcome himself, as a jumpstart to conquer what another has. But the things, as they are; his eye is aimed at the other; what power they hold, what talents, or gifts that he hasn't. Of course that, again in contrast to the E4, this character feeling envy doesn't result in a way to be seen. To be admired he must be useful. 

Claudio Naranjo's Social 2 Description

Social E2: The one chosen by the gods. Ambition.

I often have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that I sometimes don't understand a single word of what I am saying.
Oscar Wilde

The social E2s are noted for their ambition to be in everyone's hearts and to be publicly recognized as people of reference. They seek attention directly and confuse being taken into consideration with being loved. They may act in a provocative or unfriendly manner so as not to be ignored. Or marry influential people and focus their energies on the couple's goals, raising their children to succeed in this world. Mother models and competent wives are common in this character close to E3 and E1.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oscar Wilde

The social instinct of the E2 is expressed in the motto “I am a friend of everyone.” There is a powerful desire to be valued by all the people in their social sphere. They enjoy introducing people and organizing meetings at home. They are very efficient at making themselves necessary and experts at creating networks; today they could be called influencers. The others are surprised at how they treat almost everyone, from the cleaning staff to the manager they don't know at all, with a close familiarity that makes them trustworthy. Another motto applicable to this subtype is “information is power,” and they make it their own from childhood.

They enjoy putting themselves in the center of attention in the social sphere, and have a great need to be remembered, fearing going unnoticed or feeling excluded. They become intimate with valued people in the group, to the point of being indispensable support. If they feel insecure about their power of social fascination, they cultivate new skills. They try to impress by giving advice; spiritual, financial, medical... or with allusions to important people as if they knew them intimately. This puts them in trouble, because the desire for it to be known that they are friends of VIPs can lead them to be indiscreet and reveal confidences.

Social E2s who are more trapped in their character structure can frustrate their loved ones by being scattered, having such a wide range of contacts, and not really paying attention to anyone. They are paternalistic and like to do favors, but making it very clear to the other person everything they have done for them. “What would you do without me?” They are the classic accomplice who covers up the misdeeds of an important person so that they feel indebted.

Social E2: A Conqueror Of Groups

On the first pages there are comments from various characters who are already giving an idea that Julius Caesar provokes very polarized opinions: “I am amazed that a man with such a weak constitution can march at the head of the majestic world and carry the palm alone.” “...a man who in personal worth is no stronger than you and me, and yet has grown prodigiously and is as terrifying as those strange upheavals.” “I saw Marco Antonio offer him a crown—although it was not a crown either, but a kind of crown—and, as I was saying, he pushed it away once, but, despite everything, I think he would have liked to have it. Then he offered it to him again, he rejected it again, but I think it was too heavy for him to withdraw his fingers from it... And then he offered it to him for the third time; for the third time he pushed it away from him.”

There is a mixture of fear, even hatred, and admiration for Julius Caesar: “... who would otherwise rise above the sight of men and plunge us all into servile awe?” “He walks around the world, which seems narrow to him…” “...what food does this Caesar of ours feed on, who has become so great?” “That already happens in Rome, truly, and there is plenty of space when there is only one man in it!” “Say that you feared Caesar, that you revered and loved him.”

Caesar transmits such a sensation of greatness that others feel small before such a character, who seems to be governed by other rules that go beyond human ones: “Yesterday still, the word of Caesar would have been able to face the universe.”

Caesar is oblivious to emotions that concern men and boasts of the strength of his character. Thus, he denies feeling afraid: “Such men never calm down while they see someone greater than themselves, and they are, therefore, extremely dangerous. I tell you rather what is to fear than what I fear, since I am always Caesar.” “The dangers that have threatened me have never looked but my back! When they saw Caesar's face they vanished!” And he even says he is amazed at fear: “Cowards die several times before expiring. The brave never taste death but once! Of all the marvels that I have heard, the one that most astonishes me is that men are afraid!”

Fierce and powerful, he stands at the top of the danger scale: “Therefore, oh gods, you turn the weak into the strongest.” “Too knows the danger that Caesar is more fearsome than he! We are two lions born on the same day, but I came first and I am more terrifying!” And he looks so powerful that he shies away from diplomacy. “Caesar sent a lie? Have I extended the conquests of my arm so far that I dare not tell a few old men the truth? Decius, go and communicate that Caesar will not go!” “Do not delude yourself that Caesar has such rebellious blood that he can change its true quality with what makes a fool throb, that is, with sweet words, with humiliating bowing bows and low servile flattery.”

All this to finally explain with crystal clarity how he understands that the world works: “The cause is my will.” His lack of humility may be a result of his rapid rise to power: “To tell the truth, I have never seen Caesar's passions dominate more than his reason; but it is well known that humility is a ladder for incipient ambition, from which the climber turns his face; who, once on the highest rung, then turns his back on the ladder, tends his eyes to the clouds and disdains the humble steps that raised him up.”

Compassion is, of course, the most absent quality, almost non-existent in Caesar: “The abuse of greatness comes when clemency is separated from power.” “I could soften if I were like you! If I could lower myself to beg, the prayers would move me, but I am constant like the pole star, which due to its fixity and immobility has no resemblance to any other in the firmament. Glazed are the heavens with innumerable sparks, all fiery and all glowing, but among them only one holds its place! This is how it is in the world: it is populated by men, and men are made up of flesh and blood and enjoy intelligence. And yet, I know of only one of them all who remains at his post, unyielding under pressure. And that this is me I will prove it in the following way!, [refusing a pardon, which represents his last act before being assassinated].”

Social E2 tends to stand out comparatively in a group based on the first impression it makes. However, it is quite common that, in a second impression, alarm bells go off around you, especially if you communicate what you think and if you start to observe people with your inquisitive gaze, or if you rebuke them with some uncomfortable question. In order to demonstrate his superiority, he will not waste an opportunity to show that he is on another level.

The social E2 is surrounded by a fueled fame, often fueled by himself and sometimes also by others, who attribute to him qualities that he may even possess, but magnified, as if meeting such an interesting person, as can be presented in sometimes how a social E2 somehow gave some benefit to his interlocutor.

It is not surprising that, as you progress in dealing with social E2, the people around you notice your arrogance and lack of kindness and empathy towards those you do not consider at your level. The social E2 divides the world between intelligent, effective, successful, powerful, strong, famous... and the others: the stupid, the slow, heavy, unsuccessful, complaining, weak, simple; placing himself, obviously, among the first.

The polarity that surrounds the social E2 transits between admiration and rejection, it is quite common that in its most intimate circle it is considered in high esteem, in fact, the people close to it also consider themselves privileged to belong to their circle, in a feedback of mutual importance. As the circle of relationships increases, his slights and put-downs are often less overlooked. It is as if with the intimate ones he had reached a tacit agreement of mutual acceptance with what is there. But this becomes very difficult to sustain in a larger circle due to the high level of intensity that relationships with the social E2 acquire.

It is important for the social E2 not to be in evidence below others, admitting to take charge of something that others despise. Only in the event that it is to save someone in trouble, he will not waste time, nor will he run the risk of inspiring pity.

The social E2 is not interested in liking anyone. If you receive negative feedback from third parties, it does not affect or reflect it; he feels so powerful that he manages to make himself immune to criticism. Along these same lines, you will have no qualms about making probing critiques before an audience about people, happenings, organizations, events, and any noteworthy occurrence. He boasts of not being false, of not hiding what he thinks.

The social E2 values ​​beauty and elegance as an element of prestige, his appreciation for the aesthetic results in the harmony of opulent environments, which he despises if they do not accept him. It is as if his opinion were conditioned by a prior acceptance of his criticism: he feels entitled to criticize everything, even what is close to perfect.

The way to discriminate against people for social E2 does not necessarily involve wealth, but rather intelligence. If a person does not emanate intelligence from his speech, his physical appearance, his presence, his knowing how to be, will be completely discarded. He prefers a poor intellect rather than a rich fool. His attitude is usually despotic, arrogant, and tyrannical.

E2 Social – Ambition

In the social two, the passion of pride manifests itself as a satisfaction in the conquest of the public.

To awaken a great passion you may not need to develop much intelligence, or pretend it, but a social two could never be enough to be considered a dumb blonde. A social two needs to be someone, and in order to be someone you need to use your mind more. Being a person who wants to be important to be able to feed his pride, he must be able to seduce the social environment, becoming a seducer of groups, a distinguished being and, perhaps, not only someone superior, but with a gift of leadership.

Ichazo spoke of ambition, but we could say that it is a passion to be in a certain sense above; and through such being above, having influence and having advantages. This is the type of person who presents himself to the world as great or important, unlike the sexual E2, who is mainly interested in being important to his partner, or the conservation type, which, as we will see, is a counter-two.