Crabs in a bucket

'Crabs in a bucket' is not so much an idiom as a metaphor that describes attitudes or behaviour of the type 'if I can't have it, then nobody can.' The allusion is to a bucket, pot, or barrel of crabs who are trying to climb out. In so doing, the crabs invariably only succeed in pulling each other down so that none of them escape. Consequently they all suffer the same fate. Most often the 'crabs in a bucket' metaphor is used to describe a negative, psychological syndrome or mentality. The earliest citation to date is from the British author William Lionel George, in his book A Bed of Roses, published in 1911, which is about a woman's descent into prostitution.