Arrogant, adjective. The definition of arrogant is someone who is full of self-worth or self importance and who tells and shows that they have a feeling of superiority over others. At the same time the person longs to be admired and respected for their special qualities and great accomplishments. An example of arrogant is when a guy on a date brags about himself all night acting like he is the best thing to ever happen to a woman.
Privilege, noun. The definition of privilege is a right or immunity granted as a particular benefit, advantage, or favor, like a special prerogative such as a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office. An example of privilege is taking a position that allows the individual to refuse to disclose information or provide evidence about a certain subject or to bar evidence from being disclosed or used in a judicial or other proceeding.
Arrogance and privilege display themselves as characteristics of behavior, and they reveal themselves in the ways an individual functions in relationships with others. In isolation arrogance and privilege are not necessarily problematic. When shielded from public presence an arrogant person does not disrupt community. When shielded from public presence a person claiming special privilege is not a threat to orderly conduct.
I attended a college which had a large open field in the center of the campus. Being a land grant school the institution was required to conduct military training for all male students. The field functioned as a parade ground for reserve officer training for the Army and Air Force. Several concrete pathways had been constructed across this expanse to provide suitable access to various classroom buildings that existed along the perimeter of the field. And there were the usual posted signs requesting—directing—students to use the walkways rather than cut across the grass in order to attend their classes.
In time someone late for class would choose to ignore the signs and walk on the grass, taking a short cut through the field to arrive at a desired location. Seeing the initial benefit of this practice other students interested in arriving at that same location would follow along. Eventually a path was created, a depression that wore away the grass and resulted in a dirty, often muddy trail. Avoiding the mud would cause the width of the trail to grow. Seeing the result of this transgression the institution would construct another concrete walk way to make this trail more aesthetically appealing and safer. This deviation occurred numerous times with the same results. Afterward the site of the open field had been diverted from its original symmetry of pathways and had morphed into a bazar pattern of concrete tentacles that seemed to reach uninvited into the very soul of the campus.
An arrogant person would be one who ignores directives established to promote a healthy and equitably functioning society. Signs requesting that members not walk on the grass would be an example of one of these worthy directives or rules. The feelings prompted by arrogance would result in the perception of a privilege that someone did not need to obey the signs. Their feeling of exceeding self worth would produce an element of superiority that not only superseded the presence of other more modest persons but also concluded that the rules did not apply to them. And this dynamic would conclude that the importance of their perspectives was enough to violate rules and norms that had been established to benefit the function of relationship with others in the community.
Relationships survive only when all parties enjoy some benefit from the interactions. Open grass fields can become completely covered by concrete. Remember the observation of Eleanor Roosevelt: In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are.