The Rich are Different -- Social Class as Culture

[mpohl 1]

That's as scientifically sound as it gets! If you still believe that the millionaires and billionaires will save you...Good luck!!!!

Social class is more than just how much money you have. It’s also the clothes you wear, the music you like, the school you go to—and has a strong influence on how you interact with others, according to the authors of a new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

People from lower classes have fundamentally different ways of thinking about the world than people in upper classes—a fact that should figure into debates on public policy, according to the authors.

Americans, although this is shifting a bit, kind of think class is irrelevant,” says Dacher Keltner of the University of California-Berkeley, who cowrote the article with Michael W. Kraus of UC-San Francisco and Paul K. Piff of UC-Berkeley. “I think our studies are saying the opposite: This is a profound part of who we are.”

People who come from a lower-class background have to depend more on other people. “If you don’t have resources and education, you really adapt to the environment, which is more threatening, by turning to other people,” Keltner says. “People who grow up in lower-class neighborhoods, as I did, will say,’ There’s always someone there who will take you somewhere, or watch your kid. You’ve just got to lean on people.’”

Wealthier people don’t have to rely on each other as much. This causes differences that show up in psychological studies. People from lower-class backgrounds are better at reading other people’s emotions. They’re more likely to act altruistically. “They give more and help more. If someone’s in need, they’ll respond,” Keltner says. When poor people see someone else suffering, they have a physiological response that is missing in people with more resources. “What I think is really interesting about that is, it kind of shows there’s all this strength to the lower class identity: greater empathy, more altruism, and finer attunement to other people,” he says.

Of course, there are also costs to being lower-class. Health studies have found that lower-class people have more anxiety and depression and are less physically healthy.
Upper-class people are different, Keltner says. “What wealth and education and prestige and a higher station in life gives you is the freedom to focus on the self.” In psychology experiments, wealthier people don’t read other people’s emotions as well. They hoard resources and are less generous than they could be.

One implication of this, Keltner says, is that’s unreasonable to structure a society on the hope that rich people will help those less fortunate.

“One clear policy implication is, the idea of nobless oblige or trickle-down economics, certain versions of it, is bull,” Keltner says. “Our data say you cannot rely on the wealthy to give back. The ‘thousand points of light’—this rise of compassion in the wealthy to fix all the problems of society—is improbable, psychologically.”
The ability to rise in class is the great promise of the American Dream. But studies have found that, as people rise in the classes, they become less empathetic. Studies have also found that as people rise in wealth, they become happier—but not as much as you’d expect. “I think one of the reasons why is the human psyche stops feeling the need to connect and be closer to others, and we know that’s one of the greatest sources of happiness science can study,” Keltner says.

[nanook 1]

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That's as scientifically sound as it gets! If you still believe that the millionaires and billionaires will save you...Good luck!!!!

Who told you that millionaires and billionairs are supposed to help poor people? Giving free help to those who will not advance on their own is enabling the poor's dependence.

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"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[pirana 0]

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That's Social class is more than just how much money you have. It’s also the clothes you wear, the music you like, the school you go to—and has a strong influence on how you interact with others, according to the authors of a new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

People from lower classes have fundamentally different ways of thinking about the world than people in upper classes—a fact that should figure into debates on public policy, according to the authors.

Americans, although this is shifting a bit, kind of think class is irrelevant,” says Dacher Keltner of the University of California-Berkeley, who cowrote the article with Michael W. Kraus of UC-San Francisco and Paul K. Piff of UC-Berkeley. “I think our studies are saying the opposite: This is a profound part of who we are.”

This part is old news. Read Class by Paul Fussell. Accuratre and funny.

Even though the statement is old news, good to see they understand that class is about so much more than money. But then he goes off and talks mostly about having money.

Need to look beyond money to understand class and the behaviors of each.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[mpohl 1]

Millionaires and billionaires are not supposed to help the poor!
Let's realize, and openly acknowledge, what we are facing is class-warfare!! So, I'll donate a $1,000 towards a billionaire's guillotine...

Because his billions were taken from the people!

Whether it is a Hedge Fund Manager on Wall Street, or our Dear Leader, North Korea, does not make a fuckin' difference! Their fate should be all the same!

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That's as scientifically sound as it gets! If you still believe that the millionaires and billionaires will save you...Good luck!!!!

Who told you that millionaires and billionairs are supposed to help poor people? Giving free help to those who will not advance on their own is enabling the poor's dependence.

[airdvr 197]

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Millionaires and billionaires are not supposed to help the poor!
Let's realize, and openly acknowledge, what we are facing is class-warfare!! So, I'll donate a $1,000 towards a billionaire's guillotine...

Because his billions were taken from the people!

Whether it is a Hedge Fund Manager on Wall Street, or our Dear Leader, North Korea, does not make a fuckin' difference! Their fate should be all the same!

Quote

Quote

That's as scientifically sound as it gets! If you still believe that the millionaires and billionaires will save you...Good luck!!!!

Who told you that millionaires and billionairs are supposed to help poor people? Giving free help to those who will not advance on their own is enabling the poor's dependence.

Good to see that you're another one of the minions who believes he has no control over his fate. It's always someone else's fault.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[nanook 1]

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Let's realize, and openly acknowledge, what we are facing is class-warfare!! So, I'll donate a $1,000 towards a billionaire's guillotine...

Nope. No class warfare. Where are the opponents meeting? Mount Meggido? There has always been a division of class. Seems like every time the economy goes to shit, some people realize this. And, it seems when everything is going well, it's all forgotten.

There should be a "Class-Warfare Consipracy Index": A measure of how bad the economy is doing by how much a subgroup realizes that there is a division between classes not previously noticed when they are employed.

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[Belgian_Draft 0]

I call bullshit.
Show me one billionaire, or millionaire, who can get things done without help from many other people.
No man is an island, regardless of wealth.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[billvon 2,392]

>So, I'll donate a $1,000 towards a billionaire's guillotine...

Careful - people might decide that a guy with so much disposable income that he can skydive is one of those hateful rich.

In any case, why would you donate $1000 to hurting someone instead of helping them? Why not donate that extra $1000 you have to the poor? In fact, tell you what - you donate that spare $1000 to the poor charity of your cause and I'll match it 1:10 (i.e. I'll donate $100 to the same charity to help out.)

>Because his billions were taken from the people!

Who was your money taken from?

[shah269 0]

Never before in the MODERN history of our great nation has the disparity of income been so great. The last time a disparity of such magnitude was visible was a little before the great depression. Internationally before that was the French revolution.

People by their very nature are hard workers, everyone wishes to work and provide. Yes you can will point out to a few who sit at home and reproduce as it's their job and suck on the tit of society. But those are the extremes and not the norm. On average those of the lower classes work longer and harder than those of the upper classes.

And as time has gone by this has grown and expanded to such an extent where it's become a serious issue. Those in the upper classes effectively no longer have to work and furthermore no longer have to actually own the means of production. Their capital churns and slides around the international markets forever in a state of profitability.

We are currently in a state where by the rich effectively are divorced from the poor. And this can only be maintained for so long before the system breaks.

And unlike the French revolution where the well to do and connected who kept the poor down were dragged from their homes and were laid down to have their heads removed from their shoulders the current state is such that the rich and in effect buy the government and in turn buy protection.

And before you go off on a 2nd amendment rant about how you and your small insignificant amount of ammo and guns can and will hold the government accountable let me be the first to tell you......guns and bullets are a thing of the past.

Those in charge and those in the know can keep everyone and everything at peace such that the rich will get richer, the poor will vote against their own best interest and die off and the middle class can move to Mexico.

But relax there is nothing you can do. If you are a republican odds are in the past 20 odd years you have voted against your best interests. You have been fixated on god, gays and guns.....all of which do not put food on the table or funds in your pockets....but god, guns and gays keep you up at night and ensure warm angry thoughts. And don't look at the democrats for anything either. The democrats aka the jellocrats can't find their way out of a wet paper bag. If the republicans are the party of laser focus on irreverent subjects the jellocrats are the party of the beaten wives club. Just flex on them on any issue no matter how central to their views and they like a bunch of dorky nerds will fall to the ground ball up in the fetal position and promptly wet and soil themselves.

And with that boys and girls all I can say is that we are FUCKED! And sadly we will be smiling all the way into the grave!

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[lawrocket 3]

The whole article misses out on the important thing that rich people do: HIRE PEOPLE.

Yes, the wealthy hire people to make money, and if a person does not or cannot make the person money then the person is fired. But that $15.00 per hour job plus health care and retirement matching that the rich person provides is, in my value judgment, relying on people, helping people, taking care of people.

The rich do it in a different way. The rich manage to get rich by helping others AND helping themselves. Any entrepreneur will tell you that unless a person gets more from you than expected you are out of business. Unless your employees believe that they are getting a good deal, they'll leave you.

I think that the authors miss this entirely.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[shah269 0]

Actually they hire lots of people in China and SEA where the income is well under $5 a day and which the people spend $2 a day in rent for their bed adn $1 for food.

I was in China last year you really don't want to know where your shit is comming from or who is getting rich off such living conditions.


But hey like we can change anything sit back relax and enjoy the ride down.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

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>So, I'll donate a $1,000 towards a billionaire's guillotine...

Careful - people might decide that a guy with so much disposable income that he can skydive is one of those hateful rich.

In any case, why would you donate $1000 to hurting someone instead of helping them? Why not donate that extra $1000 you have to the poor? In fact, tell you what - you donate that spare $1000 to the poor charity of your cause and I'll match it 1:10 (i.e. I'll donate $100 to the same charity to help out.)

>Because his billions were taken from the people!

Who was your money taken from?

Well, I'm not a billionare, but my money was taken (I prefer earned) from my employer. That can be the owner of the company I work for, or the clients that I do side work for.

If I don't do a good enough job, I either get fired from my main job or don't have clients come back on the side work.

The owner of the company I work for took it's money from their customers. They actually charge above market rate. They can do that and keep their clients because they provide above average service.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[lawrocket 3]

Of course some of them do. But let's not take the wealthy people any of us know. Instead, let's look to the notional few.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[charlie5 0]

Remind me again, how BILLIONS have Gates and Buffet given and have pledged to give?

The feather butts bounce off ya like raindrops hitting a battle-star when they come in too fast...kinda funny to watch. - airtwardo

[Bertt 0]

"Unless your employees believe that they are getting a good deal, they'll leave you. "

Anyone who believes this should make two trips: one to the coal fields of West Virginia, and one to Jamaica.
This is indeed the way it's supposed to work, but some people really don't have the option to leave and seek employment elsewhere.

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[mpohl 1]

They are not helping the poor and needy in America! Except maybe with a few library computers!

The children of America are none of their concern as if abject poverty didn't exist in this third-world country of ours. And as if people were not dying from lack of affordable access to medical care!

No, it needs to be an African, Haitian, or Bangladeshi child!!! Even better, a BLIND African, Haitian, or Bangladeshi child!!! But even that might not be good enough. Let them help the BLIND, ORPHANED African, Haitian, or Bangladeshi child!!!

Cynical? Maybe! But that's how charities work including the Gates Foundation.

P.S.: Of course, you need to be really blind to not see the need in America!!!

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Remind me again, how BILLIONS have Gates and Buffet given and have pledged to give?

[mpohl 1]

+1

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And with that boys and girls all I can say is that we are FUCKED! And sadly we will be smiling all the way into the grave!

[lawrocket 3]

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They are not helping the poor and needy in America!

So the billions being donated are going where you would donate the money.

I mean, what the hell?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[mpohl 1]

I can't even fathom what you are trying to say.
Must be my lack of a law degree, immigrant background (but naturalized citizen), combined w/ a PhD (sciences) and an MBA.

But you are the "rocket." Care to explain yourself to a mortal like me?

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They are not helping the poor and needy in America!

So the billions being donated are going where you would donate the money.

I mean, what the hell?

[usedtajump 1]

My wife and I made a VERY GOOD living off the rich for 32 years while in the jet charter and aircraft management business and would hate to think where we'd be today without grossly overcharging so many of them . :-)

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[mnealtx 0]

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immigrant background (but naturalized citizen)

I thought you bailed?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[mpohl 1]

That's just OBSCENE!

The rich need all the help, political help, tax breaks, inheritance tax breaks they can get! Because w/o it, they wouldn't be rich any longer!!
Which would diminish ALL of us. No one to look up to, no one to emulate! We'd be lost...!

P.S.: Thanks for fleecing the rich :)

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My wife and I made a VERY GOOD living off the rich for 32 years while in the jet charter and aircraft management business and would hate to think where we'd be today without grossly overcharging so many of them . :-)

[mpohl 1]

You ever pack that ball of crap in your avatar?

Need a new closing loop?:)

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immigrant background (but naturalized citizen)

I thought you bailed?

[kallend 1,622]

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They are not helping the poor and needy in America!

So the billions being donated are going where you would donate the money.

I mean, what the hell?

While I am sure there are exceptions, the very very wealthy people that I know (and I know quite a few) tend to donate a lot of money to the arts, museums, universities etc. where they can get their names on a wall somewhere, or to their own foundations that pay exorbitant salaries to their kids on the payroll, rather than to homeless shelters, battered women shelters and so on.

Not all charitable donations go to the poor.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[lawrocket 3]

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I can't even fathom what you are trying to say.
Must be my lack of a law degree, immigrant background (but naturalized citizen), combined w/ a PhD (sciences) and an MBA.

But you are the "rocket." Care to explain yourself to a mortal like me?

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They are not helping the poor and needy in America!

So the billions being donated are going where you would donate the money.

I mean, what the hell?

Had a type-o. I meant, "are not going where you would donate the money."

One of my biggest issues is people thinking that they'd spend other peoples' money better. So billions are donated to a worthy cause but you criticize it because you think something is more worthy.

Yeah, I have a problem with that.

My wife is hotter than your wife.