Looking for a word, phrase or expression that means "liking something which is generally considered bad for you"?

Question

As per the title I am looking for a word, phrase, or expression which signifies liking something, taking pleasure, or being content with something generally considered negative.

For example, the media often demonises the long-term unemployed benefits-dependent portraying such individuals in a negative light but these people may be content with their life and do not aspire to improve their living circumstances in line with society's expectations.

Example sentence: Their __ attitude defies societal expectations.

Edit: Ideally the word/phrase/expression would try to remain judgement-free covering what is generally considered bad, but is not actually bad for you (although there could be long-term less positive effects). Using the example above the 'bad' would be considered less disposable income/opportunities in life. A colleague just suggested 'the boiling frog' apologue where you gradually become desensitised to negative expectations you no longer feel the pain.

Answer 1

Perhaps complacent is the word you are looking for?

A complacent person is very pleased with themselves or feels that they do not need to do anything about a situation, even though the situation may be uncertain or dangerous. [...] [disapproval]

Jobless workers dispute claim that unemployment benefits foster complacency

Answer 2

A neologism that may work here is goblin mode:

Their goblin mode attitude defies societal expectations.

It was last year's Oxford Languages Word of the Year:

‘Goblin mode’ – a slang term, often used in the expressions ‘in goblin mode’ or ‘to go goblin mode’ – is ‘a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.’

The key to this word is that it describes not just indulging in pleasures but doing so in a way that rejects conventional expectations. To someone who expects people to work, someone unapologetically not working would be pursuing a kind of goblin mode.

Many articles around the same time glossed goblin mode through the pursuit of pleasures that may set aside norms around responsible time-keeping, hygiene, or cleanliness:

It's mindlessly binge-watching television without worrying about the time. It's eating snacks in bed without a care about leftover crumbs. And it's wearing the same pair of pajamas all week while working from home. Welcome to "goblin mode." (NPR)

While it is a casual term often seen on social media, it has made its way into major news publications too, like when The Times of London published an opinion piece in which the author said too many people had embraced goblin mode "in response to a difficult year." (CBS News)

Many people adopted goblin mode, giving in to lazy behaviour, during the pandemic. (BBC News)

As seen in the last two examples, the word can be glossed as an embrace of a negative (e.g., lazy) behavior. It can also defend those relaxed norms, if an author is confessing their own goblin mode:

I might define goblin mode as “unbridled domestic liberation” or “a complete shedding of the mask of public life” or, my personal favorite, “staying home and getting weird.” Whatever you call it, I’m grateful for my newfound ability to go goblin mode. Now get out of my house so I can act unhinged. (The Atlantic)

Answer 3

I think contrarian may fit in your sentence:

Disagreed with by most people, or liking to express opinions that most people disagree with:

• Among academics in the field, she takes a contrarian view.

(Cambridge Dictionary)

In your example:

Their contrarian attitude defies societal expectations.

Answer 4

What about:

Their self-inflictive/self-immolatory attitude defies social expectations.

---

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines self-inflicted as:

Self-inflicted: A self-inflicted wound or injury is one that you do to yourself deliberately. eg: He is being treated for a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The word inflictive seems to me a rarely used word, and as such self-inflictive is rarer in usage. But (hopefully) it is grammatically sound and usable.

---

NB: If there was a word such as inflicto-philic, or better, self-inflicto-philic, I'd have complacently handed it over to you.

Answer 5

In the particular context of such unemployed people, the word unambitious would work well. Cambridge defines it as:

An unambitious person does not have a strong wish to be successful, powerful, or rich

Answer 6

Liking something, taking pleasure, or being content with something generally considered negative implies feeling no shame.

From Oxford Languages:

shameless - adjective (of a person or their conduct) characterized by or showing a lack of shame; barefaced or brazen. "his shameless hypocrisy"