People with a lot of money don’t impress me–at least not because they have money and rarely for any other reason. Wealth doesn’t impress me because it can be acquired in many less-than-admirable ways. It can be inherited, of course, which is no accomplishment. Money can also be acquired through criminal acts, as with mobsters, the so-called “smartest men in the room” at Enron, Bernie Madoff, and drug pushers. Even when money is acquired through legal means (technically speaking), that acquisition can violate the Golden Rule (if you are religious) or fundamental fairness (even if you’re not religious).
But that isn’t why I wanted to write about the dangerous rich. I had intended to write a piece about the research showing that wealthy and powerful people can be less compassionate, more selfish, and more unethical than people with less money. My concern is political. The rich are powerful at any time, but now they are on the verge of what can only be called a coup. So I started gathering the original research articles to make sure I understood what I was writing about. I’ve listed the ones I gathered below, some with quotes and my own emphasis (sometimes using the popular press headlines to summarize more succinctly).
I found some studies that may in part explain the 2008 economic collapse:
“Share Traders More Reckless Than Psychopaths, Study Shows.” Der Spiegal, 9/26/2011. Report of research at University of St. Gallen in Switzerland by Pascal Scherrer (forensic expert) and Thomas Noll (administrator at a Swiss prison). http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/going-rogue-share-traders-more-reckless-than-psychopaths-study-shows-a-788462.html
Quote from Der Spiegel article: “Particularly shocking for Noll was the fact that the bankers weren’t aiming for higher winnings than their comparison group. Instead they were more interested in achieving a competitive advantage. Instead of taking a sober and businesslike approach to reaching the highest profit, ‘it was most important to the traders to get more than their opponents,’ Noll explained. ‘And they spent a lot of energy trying to damage their opponents.’”
Buckholtz, Joshua W., et al. “Mesolimbic dopamine reward system hypersensitivity in individuals with psychopathic traits.” Nature Neuroscience 13,419–421(2010) doi:10.1038/nn.2510 Published online14 March 2010. Reported in “Psychopaths’ brains wired to seek rewards, no matter the consequences.” Vanderbilt News; Posted Mar. 16, 2010 — 12:42 PM http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2010/03/psychopaths-brains-wired-to-seek-rewards-no-matter-the-consequences-109865/
DeCovny, Sherree. “The Financial Psychopath Next Door “ CFA Magazine. March/April 2012, Vol. 23, No. 2: 34–35 (doi: 10.2469/cfm.v23.n2.20)
Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. By Paul Babiak, Ph.D., and Robert D. Hare, Ph.D.; published by ReganBooks, http://www.harpercollins.com (Web); 353 pages.
Marshall, L.A. & Cooke, D.J. (1999). “The Childhood Experiences of Psychopaths: A Retrospective Study of Familial and Societal Factors.” Journal of Personality Disorders, 13, 211-225. [Reported in Bennetto, Jason. “Q: What’s the difference between a politician and a psychopath? A: None.” The Independent. 04 September 1996.]
While most of the bankers and traders who brought down the economy are indeed rich (at our expense—which I will address later), they are actually part of a “perfect storm” of uncompassionate conservatives, including the religious right. Consider this study….
L. R. Saslow, R. Willer, M. Feinberg, P. K. Piff, K. Clark, D. Keltner, S. R. Saturn. My Brother’s Keeper? Compassion Predicts Generosity More Among Less Religious Individuals. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1177/1948550612444137
These studies of the ethics of rich and high status people should inform and alarm us in relation to the massive campaign donations allowed to the rich and the conservative ideology that favors the rich:
P.K. Piff, D.M. Stancato, S. Cote, R. Mendoza-Denton, D. Keltner. “Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118373109.
In two tests, researchers found that upper-class drivers were more likely to cut off other cars and pedestrians at crosswalks. The researchers used age, vehicle make and appearance to assess drivers’ social class.
In another series of tests involving undergraduate students and adults, researchers found that those who considered themselves “upper class” were more likely to take valued items from others — including candy, even after they were told that whatever was left over would be given to children.
Others exhibited a greater willingness to lie during negotiations and cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize.
The authors of the study said the differences in ethical behavior can be explained, at least in part, by the upper-class participants’ more favourable attitude toward greed. [As summarized in a report appearing in The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/02/27/rich-people-less-ethical-study_n_1304800.html?view=print&comm_ref=false
Jennifer E. Stellar, Vida M. Manzo, Michael W. Kraus, Dacher Keltner. “Class and compassion: Socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering.”. Emotion, 2011; DOI: 10.1037/a0026508 Reported in“Lower Classes Quicker to Show Compassion in the Face of Suffering.” Published online inScienceDaily (Jan. 5, 2012) A more thorough report is available from U.C. Berkeley at: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/19/classandincome/
“It’s not that the upper classes are coldhearted,” Jennifer Stellar, a social psychologist at UC Berkeley and the lead author of the study, is quoted as saying in a press release. “They may just not be as adept at recognizing the cues and signals of suffering because they haven’t had to deal with as many obstacles in their lives.”
“Rick Santorum: ‘I Have No Problem With Income Inequality.’” The Huffington Post, 12/20/11.
Association for Psychological Science (2008, December 23). “Are Power And Compassion Mutually Exclusive?”. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 15, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/12/081217124154.htm
M. W. Kraus, S. Cote, D. Keltner . Social Class, Contextualism, and Empathic Accuracy. Psychological Science, 2010; 21 (11): 1716 DOI: 10.1177/0956797610387613 Reported in “Upper-Class People Have Trouble Recognizing Others’ Emotions.” ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010)
Quoting from an article by Max Abelson (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-20/bankers-join-billionaires-to-debunk-imbecile-attack-on-top-1-.htm) on the Bloomberg web site we can see that the wealthy seem to want empathy and compassion even if they’re not able or willing to give it:
If successful businesspeople don’t go public to share their stories and talk about their troubles, “they deserve what they’re going to get,” said Marcus, 82, a founding member of Job Creators Alliance, a Dallas-based nonprofit that develops talking points and op-ed pieces aimed at “shaping the national agenda,” according to the group’s website. He said he isn’t worried that speaking out might make him a target of protesters.
“Who gives a crap about some imbecile?” Marcus said. “Are you kidding me?”
Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co, was another financial leader quoted in the Bloomberg article: “Acting like everyone who’s been successful is bad and because you’re rich you’re bad, I don’t understand it.” You may remember JPMorgan Chase & Co has been in the news quite a bit lately. In an article titled “JPMorgan Chase’s 11 Biggest Problem” by Mark Gongloff (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/10/jpmorgan-chase-lawsuits-probes_n_1764194.html), Gongloff outlines a few of the issues:
[Dimon’s] bank, JPMorgan Chase, the biggest bank in the U.S., unveiled a long list of lawsuits and regulatory probes in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. One of the most noteworthy was the fusillade of subpoenas and lawsuits hitting the bank from around the world as part of its alleged involvement in the manipulation of Libor, a key lending rate.
But Libor is far from the bank’s only problem: It is being sued and investigated for everything from its $5.8 billion loss on crazy credit derivatives bets to its alleged manipulation of electricity markets.
Normally I would summarize and explain all these articles myself, without just listing them with a few quotes and comments. However, the more I gathered and read the research, the more depressed I got. I was reading all this against the background of the nightly news reporting on the effects of the Citizens United ruling on campaigns as well as reporting on the Republicans’ successful voter suppression efforts in most of our 50 states. It was depressing, very, very depressing. I found myself trying to combat the depression with methods I’ve used before when humanity seems completely horrible and doomed. As the methods began to work, I decided to abandon writing about the dangerous rich and instead write about the things that make me feel good about humanity.
However, in order to get to the place where you could understand my humanity-caused depression and efforts to raise my spirits, I felt that I had to explain all that you’ve read above. Now that I’ve written it, I’m depressed again. Maybe I’ll explain my depression-relieving methods another day—providing they work this time.
Wandering Hare 