Wealth and Morality
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Anonymous
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There are several factors that contribute to higher cheating among the wealthy. First, the very wealthy have a heightened sense of their own importance and a feeling that the rules for "others" don't apply to them (the "Don't they know who I am?" problem). Additionally, self-important people tend to pay less attention to rules around them in general because they focus on what's important to themselves and not following the rules of society (that sense of entitlement). Second, as another PP pointed out, the wealthy tend to have the means to ignore smaller consequences. A ticket that is 1/8 of your salary makes a much bigger impact than a ticket that is 1% of your salary and so the wealthy will noticed $50, $100 or $250 less than the poor and will feel that if they occasionally get hit with some fine, it happens. A person of lesser means will do whatever they can to avoid that fine. Last, there is a problem of feeling superior. The wealthy typically feel they got where they were because they are better educated, smarter, or somehow better than the rest. They often feel that they can get away with more either because they can outsmart the rules, or that they can talk their way out of problems, or somehow find a loophole that means those rules don't apply to them. Not all of these apply to everyone, but at least one of these applies more often than not to wealthier members of society. Wealthier members of society do not necessarily have one or more of these, but are more likely to have one of more of these and hence are more likely to break the rules than poorer members of society.
And none of this is new. Every society has had this problem. |
Anonymous
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It seems there are more bitter people here than originally suspected! OP, WHAT do you care about this? If you are supposedly wealthy, and it does not apply to you, then what do you care? OP seems looking for a rise out of people, and very bitter. Nothing will make you happy OP. Not even posting articles. Will you ever understand this? |
Anonymous
My my, aren't you anti-intellectual and defensive. The OP posted a study and asked for thoughts. If you disagree with the study's findings, you should post a rational rebuttal instead of ranting. Should we only care about things that apply to us? |
Anonymous
| Wealthy here. Not ridiculous but 1%. Not inherited. My hard work and luck. I know I have a somewhat fuzzy moral compass which I work on daily. I also know I am a risk taker. I think these two traits are related. |
Anonymous
Then it is incumbent upon you to read the studies and identify the flaws. Just calling it propaganda does not make it so. |
Anonymous
| 12:25 - you know not to whom you speak. Your problem, not mine. If you want to cite a flawed article, be my guest. But it does not make it accurate. It does not make you or your bitterness accurate. You are trying to create a firestorm against the wealthy. Not my problem. Get off DCUM and try to better yourself instead of attacking others. |
Anonymous
Well, actually it is true. I have all the money I will ever need in life. I don't see what in my original post supports your accusation that I am bitter and a troll. Quite the opposite, I am trying to figure out what wealth means because I didn't come from it, and because I see what the bible says about it. And my children are now born into wealth. So while I don't think it is fair to generalize about people, the data in these studies suggests that money has some negative influence on character. I have also heard that poorer people give more as a percentage of their disposable income than wealthy people. I think it is worth reflecting on. I don't see why the topic seems so threatening to some. |
Anonymous
See my post at 13:09. I think that I have concern about the effect of wealth on myself and my children. I think that no one can be a good person unless they reflect on who they are, what temptations are in front of them, what mistakes they make and how to be a better person. I am truthfully astonished at the accusations of bitterness. If you would bold the words that you found bitter in tone, I would appreciate it. I have re-read my post and I do not see it. |
Anonymous
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There is more than one way to interpret the results of this study. It might be true that extra money makes people unethical, or it might be that unethical people are more likely to become wealthy or to keep inherited wealth instead of giving it away.
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Anonymous
For ME (I'm poor by DCUM standards and have been poor by national standards in the past!), I feel like I gave more when I made less money. The people around me were in bad situations, just like I was. When I had a little extra, I could see who needed it and knew, firsthand, how much just a little bit extra could help. I also was on the receiving end of a lot of charity and since I didn't earn what I had, I was more motivated to pay it forward. Now, I'm not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but I've jumped brackets. I'm not around other poor people as much and it's harder to give when I don't see the need staring me in the face. The poor people I do see are so poor (homeless, etc) that I have a hard time relating to them or seeing how my little bit extra would make any difference. Also, I've gotten used to being comfortable and indulging myself more. I've become more selfish with my money as I've made more. It's something I think about a lot actually as I don't like the trend. |
Anonymous
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If you are so determined to cite this "study" OP, I'll bite. The study claims that the nicer cars are more likely to cut people off. The study is *assuming* (yes, assuming) that the wealthy drive expensive cars.
The correlations here are faulty on many accounts. For example, I know many people with expensive cars who are not wealthy. OP does not sound as if she has ever taken basic statistics. |
Anonymous
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I know many people who are wealthy who do not drive expensive cars. How do you think they keep their money? They are down to earth, kind, and considerate.
Assholes come in all shapes and sizes, not just wealthy. I know people who claim to be christian and they would be the first to cause trouble - or cheat, as OP says. |
Anonymous
| I think some people find it easier to believe that people with money are assholes. It helps them to feel better about their own miserable lives. |
Anonymous
| It also helps to bolster their belief that the wealthy are not deserving of their wealth and therefore, to should be mandatorily redistributed to the "poor" via taxes. |
RantingAtheist
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Yes, how dare you engage in Class Warfare! Now be a good little prole, and cough up 30% percent of your income in taxes so that Chester McMoneybags here can have a functioning banking/judicial infrastructure with which to extort an even more disproportionate share of the GDP. |