Other People’s Suffering
The publication last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of “Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior” provided fresh fodder for the liberal critique of the Republican Party and the corporate ethic.
The paper, by Paul K. Piff of the University of California, Berkeley, and four colleagues, reports that members of the upper class are more likely than others to behave unethically, to lie during negotiations, to drive illegally and to cheat when competing for a prize.
“Greed is a robust determinant of unethical behavior,” the authors conclude. “Relative to lower-class individuals, individuals from upper-class backgrounds behaved more unethically in both naturalistic and laboratory settings.”
The Piff paper is part of an extensive academic critique of the right. In a paper published last year, “Class and Compassion: Socioeconomic Factors Predict Responses to Suffering,” Jennifer E. Stellar, also of Berkeley, writing with three colleagues, points out that:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/other-peoples-suffering/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Research Article
Power, Distress, and Compassion
Turning a Blind Eye to the Suffering of Others
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~keltner/publications/vankleef.2008.pdf
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