Why the Rich and Powerful Have Less Empathy

The Washington Monthly / By Kathleen Geier

Why the Rich and Powerful Have Less Empathy

 

A psychologist reveals that the richer and more powerful a person is, the less empathy he or she is likely to have for people who are lower in status.

 

 

 

October 7, 2013  |  

 

Psychologist Daniel Goleman has written a fascinating piece for today’s New York Times about social status and empathy. It seems that the richer and more powerful a person is, the less empathy he or she is likely to have for people who are lower in status:

A growing body of recent research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power. This tuning out has been observed, for instance, with strangers in a mere five-minute get-acquainted session, where the more powerful person shows fewer signals of paying attention, like nodding or laughing. Higher-status people are also more likely to express disregard, through facial expressions, and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past the other speaker.

[Snip]

In 2008, social psychologists from the University of Amsterdam and the University of California, Berkeley, studied pairs of strangers telling one another about difficulties they had been through, like a divorce or death of a loved one. The researchers found that the differential expressed itself in the playing down of suffering. The more powerful were less compassionate toward the hardships described by the less powerful.

It’s not that rich people are natural-born sociopaths — although some of them certainly give that impression. Rather, says Goleman, while rich people can buy all the help they need, people of modest means “are more likely to value their social assets”:

The financial difference ends up creating a behavioral difference. Poor people are better attuned to interpersonal relations — with those of the same strata, and the more powerful — than the rich are, because they have to be.

I see this in my own life all the time. I live in Hyde Park in Chicago, a neighborhood with a great deal of racial and economic diversity. It includes undergraduates wealthy enough to attend the University of Chicago, professors who live in homes built by Frank Lloyd Wright … and also a large population of working class African-Americans. I don’t own a car, and sometimes I carry heavy shopping bags home from the grocery store.

Every time I’ve schlepped along with heavy packages, someone has offered to help, a fact which never fails to move me. In every single instance, the people who offered to help have been African-American men and women. To my more affluent neighbors, in those moments, I became invisible — just as I, in turn, have no doubt failed to “see” other people in distress, as I make the neighborhood rounds. Because they’ve been in my shoes in that particular situation — carrying heavy packages, with no one to help — my African-American neighbors have empathy for me. But because they haven’t had that experience, my white neighbors don’t.

Goleman says that growing inequality and the social distance it creates may be responsible for a “empathy gap” that has led to the Republican party’s Scrooge-like politics: cutting food stamps, denying health care, etc. I don’t doubt there’s something to that, but political ideology is far more complicated than that. I have relatives whose politics are awful but whose personal behavior could hardly be more generous and empathetic. And I’ve also known people with great politics who behave like cold-hearted bastards, particularly towards their social inferiors.

But I do agree that in societies where there is more equality and less social distance, there does tend to be more empathy. That was one of the points I was making in this post. As I wrote, “[d]eeply unequal societies like ours are … breeding grounds for a host of simmering resentments, petty tyrannies and everyday sadism.” That’s because, on the one hand, you have so many heartless power plays and unthinking acts of cruelty on the part of the powerful. And on the other hand, the experience of constantly being dehumanized and robbed of one’s dignity doesn’t exactly improve one’s character. What it’s likely to do, instead, is to cause you, in turn, to dehumanize others. It is not an edifying spectacle. But it is inevitable when you create an economic system that allows people to use human beings like objects.

Social democracy, which creates more social and economic equality, can help minimize social pathologies, and maximize empathy. Another recent New York Times article suggests another route to increasing empathy: reading literary fiction. A study found that after reading literary fiction, “people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence.”

I am always somewhat wary of these arguments about the morally improving qualities of literature. I’m wary because literature is far more than its moral content, or lack thereof. Literature is to be cherished for its aesthetic value as well — art for art’s sake, etc. If you don’t see that, you’re missing something important.

Not to mention the fact that reading the classics clearly has not done a bloody thing to improve the character of any number of people I can think of.
And yet, as I say, I am only “somewhat wary” of those moral arguments for literature, because I think those arguments basically are kind of true. One of the most basic reasons we read literature is to get a better understanding of human nature and human experience, and often but not always, more understanding results in more empathy. Educated people who don’t read literature probably are less empathetic and more socially clueless than their better-read counterparts, all other things equal. The fact that Larry Summers reportedly never heard of One Years of Solitude tells you quite a lot about the man, don’t you think?

The Times article specifically mentions Alice Munro and Chekhov as two writers who will improve your empathy. I can’t vouch for that claim, but I couldn’t agree more that everybody should read Alice Munro and Chekhov. Especially Chekhov, who I am sometimes think is my all-time favorite writer. These days, people seem to be far more familiar with his plays than his short stories, but as much as I love his plays, the short stories are his most important achievement, in my view. He wrote many volumes of them, and they are amazing.

One of the Chekhov stories I love most, “Misery,” beautifully illustrates Goleman’s point about empathy and social distance. It concerns the driver of a horse and cab, whose little boy has died. He has been driven almost mad with grief. As he drives his passengers, he keeps trying to find someone who will listen to his pain. IIRC, all of the passengers are his clear social superiors — college students, army officers, and so on. None of them pay him the least bit of attention as he desperately tries to tell his tragic story. Finally, having found no human being willing to lend a sympathetic ear, he pours out his grief to his horse.

The story is very short, and absolutely devastating. It could be updated today with few changes. Chekhov was descended from serfs and became a doctor. As a doctor working in Russia just before the revolution, he saw the whole of Russian society, from the aristocrats to the poorest peasants. He wasn’t a political writer, per se, but he showed great empathy for the suffering of the poor, and was unflinching in his depiction of the cruelties and hypocrisies of the powerful. He’s a writer for all time, but he also speaks to our time in very interesting and specific ways. Many of his stories can be found here, if you’re looking for a place to start.

New list of dark money shell game groups connected to Koch brothers

New list of dark money shell game groups connected to Koch brothers

Posted by GottaLaff 

· Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 at 4:05 pm 

As much as we think we know about the infamous Koch brothers, there is a lot we don't know. But thanks to the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch, we are now more informed about how they've been spending their billions.

For example, money went to the NRA, NFIB, the Chamber of Commerce, Koch cut-outs, Generation Opportunity (youth propaganda machine), the tea party, the Heritage Foundation, and the California (and probably more) ballot initiative subverter, CPPR, along with old stand-bys like 60+.



Via PR Watch:

 

News

Breaking: New List of the Dark Money Shell Game Groups Connected to the Kochs

by Lisa Graves — September 18, 2013 - 12:07pm

        
 











Today, the Koch-funded "Freedom Partners," which secretly distributed $250 million during the 2012 election season, posted its first federal tax report which uncloaked several Koch-related entities that were previously unknown. [...]

The new-ish organization, formally known as "Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce," lists five entities which it owned 100% of:

• The "American Entrepreneur Fund LLC," which had assets of $885,316 and whose activities are listed as simply as "projects"

• The "American Enterprise Group LLC," which had assets of $424,975 and whose activities are listed as "management"

• The "American Strategies Group LLC," which had assets of $97,714 and whose activities are listed as "public outreach"

• The "MIC LLC," with assets of $25,000 and whose job was "research"

• And, "American Strategic Innovations LLC," with assets of $4,976, whose job was also research

Here are a few revelations, with more details at the link:

• The Koch-fueled "Center to Protect Patient Rights" (CPPR) got more than $100 million last year.

• The not-so-independent National Federation of Independent Businesses claims to represent small business owners. It is the antithesis of being funded by the family fortune of one of biggest billionaire corporations in the world, Koch Industries.

• The Kochs have claimed no role on gun policy; the NRA got millions. As controversy has grown over the role of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in pushing so-called "Stand Your Ground" legislation, Koch Industries has repeatedly issued denouncements that it has any role in gun policies.

In addition to these, the Freedom Fund Chamber of Commerce spent another $50 million on other groups, cumulatively, some of which are well known and some of which have flown below the public's radar.

Again, among those groups are  the "Tea Party Patriots" operating out of Woodstock, Georgia; "The Republican Jewish Coalition"; the "Heritage Action for America, Inc.," connected to the Heritage Foundation, which has deep Koch connections; and "The National Right to Work Committee," who received $1,000,000 for pushing anti-worker, union-busting measures.
Money talks. We need to talk back, only louder.

All of these entities, whose assets totaled more than $1.4 million as of October 2012, share the same street address: 2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 102-391, Arlington, Virginia 22201. All of these corporations are registered in Delaware. The activities of these groups is not known and their current assets are also unknown. (These corporations are listed on the form as "disregarded" in IRS lingo not because they no longer exist but because of a technical tax definition for certain companies that are similar to sole proprietorships or controlled by just a few people.)

The Koch-Fueled CPPR Got More than $100 Million Last Year

The Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce's tax filing also lists the names and amounts of all of the entities it funded between late 2011 and the eve of the 2012 elections. Here is the list of the top five groups to which the Kochs' Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce funneled millions:

• "Corner Table LLC," known as the "Center to Protect Patient Rights" (CPPR): three infusions of cash totalling $114,678,000. CPPR is at the center of a probe by the California Elections Board on "dark money" spent through shell groups to influence two ballot initiatives, among other concerns that have been raised about it.
• "PR Dist LLC," described as "Americans for Prosperity," which is directed by David Koch: two infusions totaling $31,600,000
• "The 60 Plus Association Inc.," $15,660,000
• "American Future Fund," $13,600,000
• "Concerned Women for American Legislative Action Committee," $8,150,000

 

Kochs Have Claimed No Role on Gun Policy; the NRA Got Millions

In the past 18 months as controversy has grown over the role of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in pushing so-called "Stand Your Ground" legislation, Koch Industries has repeatedly issued denouncements that it has any role in gun policies. The Center for Media and Democracy, however, has documented how extreme gun policies of the National Rifle Association (NRA) have flourished while Koch Industries has had a seat on and led ALEC's Private Enterprise Board (which was recently rebranded as the Private Enterprise Advisory Council).

While it is not known if Koch Industries has donated any funds to the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, what is known -- as CMD has documented -- is that this organization is filled with Koch operatives, was launched in the same building as the Charles Koch Foundation, and has very close ties to David and Charles Koch, who are two of the richest men in the world.

Now, with this tax filing it is clear that this Koch-related operation is directly funding the NRA. The NRA received more than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, receiving $3,465,000. The NRA describes itself as a membership organization, where people can pay $35 to be a member and get a subscription to one of the NRA magazines. However, the NRA has not disclosed how much of its funding comes from gun manufacturers or non-profit groups such as the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.

The Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce also gave millions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

More Mysteries of the Koch Network Exposed

In addition to these, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce spent
another $50 million on other groups, cumulatively, some of which are well known and some of which have flown below the public's radar:

• "American Commitment," $6,260,000
• "Partnership for Ohio's Future," $500,000
• "West Michigan Policy Forum," $1,000,000
• "American Energy Alliance," $1,460,000 (has previously been connected to the Kochs)
• "American Values Action," $230,000 (spent $14 million on "independent expenditures" including phone calls against Obama during the 2012 election; donors unknown/not registered as a PAC)
• "Common Sense Issues, Inc.," $50,000
• "Heritage Action for America, Inc.," $500,000 (connected to the Heritage Foundation, which has deep Koch connections)
• "ORRA LLC (EVANGCH4 Trust)," $5,055,000
• "POFN LLC (Public Notice)," $5,466,250
• "Republican Jewish Coalition," $700,000
• "RION LLC (Center for Shared Service Trust)," $2,738,000 (closely connected to the Charles Koch Foundation)
• "SLAH LLC (Public Engagement Trust)," $1,500,000 (Arlington)
• "State Tea Party Express," $600,000 (operates out of Willows, California)
• "STN LLC (Themis Trust)," $5,781,000
• "TONA LLC (Libre Initiative Trust)," $3,112,000
• "Tea Party Patriots," $200,000 (operating out of Woodstock, Georgia)
• "TRGN LLC (Generation Opportunity)," $5,040,000 (a group aimed at Gen X that tries to pin the economic crash that began under President George W. Bush on Democrats)
• "The National Right to Work Committee," $1,000,000 (which pushes anti-worker, union-busting measures)

Some of these groups have been directly connected to the Koch fortune by prior research, such as the Heritage Foundation's arms (which are long-time recipients of Koch money), the Center for Shared Service (which helps recruit right-wingers for jobs in the Koch network and which shares an office building with the Charles Koch Foundation) Themis and Libre (which advance Koch corporate agenda of Ayn Rand-style economic policies), and the Tea Party groups (which the Kochs initially claimed to the New Yorker's Jane Mayer that they had little to do with, despite evidence to the contrary).

Other groups were not yet tied to Koch money, like Generation Opportunity (which is aimed at college graduates struggling to find work in this economy and which attempts to blame progressive policies for the economic crisis that was actually spurred by Koch-style deregulation peddled by David Koch's Citizens for a Sounds Economy, which pressed for the repeal of Glass-Steagall protections, the predecessor group of Koch's Americans for Prosperity).

Others, such as the array of LLCs in the list in addition to the gigantic sum given to CPPR, raise additional questions about the Koch agenda and how it was spent during the last election cycle when hundreds of millions in dark money was poured into so-called issue ads and other "public education" activities that coincided with election themes.

The Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce describes itself as devoted to advancing its members "common business interests." It is a trade group organized under section 501(c)(6) of the tax group, with corporate members (which may be able to write-off part of their investment as a business expense). The question a growing number of people are asking is how the pursuit of these common business interests is actually undermining the prosperity of ordinary Americans, while advancing the interests of some of the richest few in the country.


(This article has been updated, including new links.)

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