When inferiors approach superiors, then, condescension, in this eighteenth-century sense, is precisely what they hope for: they want the superior to pretend to be their equal, and the gratification they take when he or she does is proof of that tacitly ascribed superiority. What would upset them most is the opposite response: that is, contempt. Contempt can be hate-filled or dismissive, intense or mild, amused or angry; but, like condescension, it requires the background system of status. Its natural expression—it is important that it has a natural expression—tends toward the sneer.
