This article contributes to the growing body of scholarship which claims the notion of societal multiplicity offers both a foundational ontology and novel theoretical approach to the discipline of International Relations (IR). By focusing on its unheeded psychological dimension, I offer a critique of societal multiplicity with the aim of contributing to theory development. The central contention of this article is that, despite several compelling articulations of societal multiplicity in IR since its original formulation, the notion has not yet satisfactorily accounted for the hierarchical nature of societal co-existence in world politics, in particular with regards to its psychological dimension. I explore the analytical purchase of combining the theory of Uneven and Combined Development (U&CD), understood as the core mechanism of societal multiplicity, driving interaction between and across multiple societies, with an added focus on the psychological effects of the overarching presence of Western modernity as the main civilisational referent of progress and development in world politics. I empirically illustrate the article’s theoretical argument through the historical analysis of Brazil under the administration of Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022), as a compelling example of the uneven and combined desire to emulate the Western other.