Like the poor lack empathy and then as you go up the bell curve empathy rises, maxing out at middle class, and then again falling as you start hitting being rich?
No. Not in my experience.
This is not true at all. Poor people are incredibly empathetic and forgiving. The middle class is a mixed bag but mostly just want to understand why and how to avoid it in the future. Rich people are a mixed bag, too, but most of the biggest assholes are rich.
This is from experience as a banker for many years. Whenever I had bad news (fees for example) for a poor person, they just looked sad. Whenever I had bad news for a rich person 1/3 of the time, they’d want me fired for being the messenger, 1/3 they disappear to talk to a higher up, and 1/3 they grumble and accept it. There are exceptions in every gro. Some rich folks were super nice, some middle class people were nightmares, but there was never a poor person who took it out entirely on the low tier employees.
I think there’s solidarity that the decision comes from others and it’s out of our hands. This may also be because I never told them bad news without advocating for them behind the scenes and understanding the whole sequence of events first. Probably over half the time I got the fees revoked since it was an accident or bad timing on something the bank did. Since we were a small bank, I had more power than big banks would allow.
I’ve always known the poor to be the most giving in society.
If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need - go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help - the only ones.
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
These are all great answers.
Huh??? How do you figure poor people aren’t empathetic???
I grew up poor. (Not homeless). We shared among all our friends and neighbors, especially when someone falls on hard times. It was kinda like a safety net. Being desperately homeless and addicted probably has a much different experience though.
No , empathy’s not really tied to how much money one has . Everyone has varying empathy levels . Empathy ≠ kindness
Some one could be very rich and still have empathy and still be terrible person . Because empathy isn’t what determines some one’s morality
Because empathy isn’t what determines some one’s morality
Maybe not entirely, but it’s a MAJOR factor.
It’s really hard to hurt another person when you feel their pain. I lack empathy for Walmart, and honestly don’t care if you steal from them, but I’m going to make problems for you if I catch you creeping around my friend’s house, because I’d empathize with their loss.
It’s really hard to hurt another person when you feel their pain.
Consider the sadist. How can you enjoy someone’s suffering if you can’t recognize it?
The most wicked people are advanced empaths.
I’m on the fence here. I won’t rule out your claim, as sadism could be a perversion of empathy.
But, I think they recognize and enjoy the suffering BECAUSE they lack empathy, and it’s the feeling of power over another that drives them.
The human mind is a messy place, especially when you start analyzing psychopaths.
https://www.definefinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/giving-by-income-group.png
The pattern is poorer & richer people give more. The poorer people understand hardship & help one another. The richer people have more to give (and financial incentives to do so, such as tax write-offs).
The middle class gives the least, likely because they feel the most pinched on maintaining a quality of life that’s often becoming more expensive.
The poor, In my opinion, have the MOST empathy. They give a lot as a percentage of income & have the most to lose.
Your intuition is pretty much the opposite of the statistics.
I’m pretty sure you have that curve wrong.
I think it’s more likely that you need to be able to empathize with someone in order to recognize when they’re being empathetic, and you empathize most with the middle class.
Seems very unlikely to me that there’s any real relationship between financial wellbeing and the capacity for empathy. There are wonderful people and shitty people and everything in between, at all levels of society IMO. Better to judge individuals on their actions, than classes on their general characteristics.
