Is it wrong to have too much money?

Across cultures people often wrestle with whether having lots of money is a blessing a burden or a moral complication According to our new research how someone views billionaires isn t just about economics Judgment also hinges on certain cultural and moral instincts which helps explain why opinions about wealth are so polarized The research which my colleague Mohammad Atari and I published in the research journal PNAS Nexus in June examined survey content from more than people across countries We detected that while preponderance people around the world do not strongly condemn having too much money there are striking cultural differences In wealthy more economically equal countries such as Switzerland and Belgium people were more likely to say that having too much money is immoral In countries that are poorer and more unequal such as Peru or Nigeria people tended to view wealth accumulation as more acceptable Beyond economics we revealed that judgments about excessive wealth are also shaped by deeper moral intuitions Our inquiry drew on moral foundations theory which proposes that people s sense of right and wrong is built on six core values care equality proportionality loyalty authority and purity We exposed that people who highly value equality and purity were more likely to see excessive wealth as wrong The equality end was expected but the role of purity was more surprising Purity is usually associated with ideas about cleanliness sanctity or avoiding contamination so finding that it is associated with negative views about wealth gives new meaning to the phrase filthy rich As a social psychologist who studies morality custom and instrument I m interested in how these kinds of judgments differ across groups and societies Social and institutional systems interact with individual moral beliefs shaping how people view practices war issues such as wealth and inequality and in turn how they engage with the policies and conflicts that emerge around them Why it matters Billionaires wield growing influence in politics instrument and global enhancement The richest of people on Earth own more wealth than of people combined according to Oxfam an organization focused on fighting poverty Efforts to address inequality by taxing or regulating the rich may however rest on a mistaken assumption that the populace generally condemns extreme wealth If the bulk people instead view amassing wealth as morally justifiable such reforms could face limited aid Our findings suggest that in countries where inequality is highly visible and persistent people may adapt by morally justifying their structural economic system arguing that it is fair and legitimate In wealthier more equal societies people appear more sensitive to the anticipated harms of excess While our analysis shows that the majority people around the world do not view excessive wealth as morally wrong those in wealthier and more equal countries are far more likely to condemn it That contrast raises a sharper question When people in privileged societies denounce and attempt to limit billionaires are they shining a light on global injustice or projecting their own sense of guilt Are they projecting a moral principle shaped by their own prosperity onto poorer countries where wealth may represent survival progress or even hope What still isn t known One open question How do these views change over time Do attitudes shift when societies become wealthier or more equal Are young people more likely than older generations to condemn billionaires Our review offers a snapshot but long-term research could reveal whether moral judgments track broader economic or cultural changes Another uncertainty is the unexpected role of purity Why would a value tied to cleanliness and sanctity shape how people judge billionaires Our follow-up evaluation ascertained that purity concerns extended beyond money to other forms of excess such as disapproving of having too much ambition sex or fun This suggests that people may see excess itself not just inequality as corrupting What s next We re continuing to examination how cultural values social systems and moral intuitions shape people s judgments of fairness and excess from views of wealth and ambition to knowledge and AI computing power Understanding these gut-level moral reactions within larger social systems matters for debates about inequality But it can also help explain how people evaluate technologies leaders and institutions that accumulate disproportionate excessive power or influence The Research Brief is a short take on stimulating academic work Jackson Trager Ph D Candidate in Psychology USC Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license Read the original article The post Is it wrong to have too much money appeared first on Salon com