by Dr. Rainer Zitelmann
The Daily Bell
I commissioned the world’s first international comparative study into prejudices and stereotypes against the rich. But what, you might ask, is the point of investigating attitudes toward the most affluent members of society? Don’t the rich enjoy a comfortable, privileged life? Of course, they do. The rich have no material worries and are widely admired, but that is just one side of the coin: envy and hostility are the other.
Throughout history, economically successful minorities have often been (and still are) targets of hostility. Anti-Semites, for instance, have repeatedly accused Jewish people of wielding clandestine control of the economy, while Asian-Americans, as we know from academic prejudice research, are discriminated against because of their incomes, which are 40 percent higher than the average white American.