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Source: San Francisco Chronicle
If it seems that San Franciscans are getting more entitled and self-absorbed, a series of psychology studies performed at UC Berkeley indicates there could be a scientific reason: the citys increasing wealth.
Paul Piff, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at UC Irvine (he moved from UC Berkeley just a few weeks ago), has spent the past decade conducting about 50 studies on how wealthy people and poorer people behave in the same situations. Again and again, hes found a common thread: Rich people are more likely to behave unethically even if they get very little benefit.
... I think what were assessing in these studies is a general lack of sensitivity to the needs of other people, Piff said. The wealthier you are, the less attuned you are to other people around you.
... Supervisor David Campos, who represents the Mission, has talked a lot about San Franciscos growing income inequality and what he views as a Tale of Two Cities. He said some wealthy San Franciscans are incredibly generous, such as Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, but said he thinks its the exception in todays corporate culture. He is pushing Airbnb, for example, to pay millions in back taxes but hasnt gotten anywhere.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Psychology-studies-suggest-rising-wealth-means-6039481.php
liberalhistorian
(20,809 posts)money on a study to discover that? It's not like that hasn't been the way of history and societies for the past, oh, say, six or seven thousand years or so. LOL.
That's what makes rich people, particularly families, who do NOT do that and who are leftist or close to it, all the more remarkable. I'm thinking of the Kennedys, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt (while they were sixth cousins, her side, the Theodore Roosevelt branch, had as much money as Franklin's), Mark Dayton, Warren Buffet, etc. And there are plenty of people who grew up poor who are complete hateful stomp-on-the-poor jerks, too, like Saint Ronnie of Raygun, John "oompa loompa" Boehner, etc. It's not entirely black and white.
But I think we will, unfortunately, see more of the "jerkiness" and its ugly consequences with the increasing wealth gap and ever-rising income inequality.
RandySF
(57,636 posts)Fro example, I watched a vagrant urinate onto the BART tracks, then turned to me like "WTF are you looking at".