Does Wealth Make One Heartless?
(R)ich people are more likely to think about themselves. “They think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic,” said Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Because the rich gloss over the ways family connections, money and education helped, they come to denigrate the role of government and vigorously oppose taxes to fund it.
“I will quote from the Tea Party hero Ayn Rand: “‘It is the morality of altruism that men have to reject,’” he said. (source)
Are rich people heartless because they are rich or does being rich make them heartless. What do YOU think?
Arcus
That's a very leading question resting on the assumptions that all rich people are heartless, and that selfishness equals heartlessness. The only thing you can conclude from the article is that they are, on average, "more likely to think about themselves" compared to the average for non-rich people. So even if you wish to ask a leading question, it should be more correctly stated:
Are rich people selfish because they are rich or does being rich make them selfish. What do YOU think?
Becoming or staying rich is a processes of continually making correct decisions, which would include trusting oneself more than others when it comes to decision making. That's pretty close to what a selfish person is, and selfish people who are good at making decisions would therefore tend to be overrepresented. I also think it may be because "degree of selfishness" would be a positive skewed normal distribution, making the mode, or even median, more informative than the mean.
On the other side, a lot of rich people also commit and condone a fallacy. Becoming rich takes a good work ethic. But that is not the same as saying that everyone with a good work ethic becomes rich. Non rich people usually have a good work ethic, but have been less fortunate in their decision making.
Jul 7, 2012
Ed
"Are rich people heartless because they are rich or does being rich make them heartless. What do YOU think?"
Are you speaking in generalizations? Has there been a study of rich people that indicates they are more inclined to have heartlessness as a trait? What defines rich? Ninety-nine percent of ALL Americans are rich from a worldview perspective.
Making money in a capitalistic society is not always a pretty picture. I dislike certain aspects of it (capitalism) but on the other hand I cannot find fault with an individual who excels and becomes wealthy. There are certainly countless individuals who made a TON of money without the benefit of nepotism, higher education, or pulling on purse strings. There decision to share, or not, that wealth with those less fortunate should not necessarily make them heartless. There ability to isolate themselves from those of lesser means should not necessarily be construed as their having a general lack of concern for those less fortunate.
Jul 7, 2012
Yahweh
I wouldn't say heartless. I would say it makes rich people have less time to deal with trivial matters like family issues. It just seems heartless, but really they can't be bothered to waste time with matters that don't involve a positive cash flow.
Aug 7, 2012