"Reicher Mann und armer Mann standen da und sah'n sich an. Da sagt der Arme bleich: 'Wär ich nicht arm, wärst du nicht reich.'"
- Bertolt Brecht
You will always have the poor with you,
- Jesus
Just in time for Christmas, the German sociologist Wilhlem Heitmeyer has released a report based on a survey of affluent Germans which reveals a growing intolerance towards their less well-off fellow citizens, as well as growing xenophobia, anti-Semitism and homophobia.
"The recent financial and economic crisis is largely to blame for this “freezing of the social climate,” said researchers from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at Bielefeld University.
“During the crisis many high earners experienced for the first time what financial losses mean,” study leader Wilhelm Heitmeyer said.
With this realisation, carefully learned social norms and values were quickly forgotten, and ideas of so-called social Darwinism, or survival of the fittest, increased. Feeling threatened by the financial crisis also lead to a creeping “radicalising of the middle class,” with levels of anti-Islamic sentiments up significantly among political moderates and liberals, while this actually dipped slightly among conservatives."Negative feelings toward the homeless or jobless increased only among those who earned a net monthly income of more than €2,500 per month.
This growing hatred of the poor has dire political implications. Stefan Sasse has some good commentary on his blog Oeffinger Freidenker:
Die Mittelschicht, die zunehmend Aggressionen auf die Benachteiligten richtet, die sie - kein Wunder beim aktuellen Meinungsklima - pauschal verdächtigt, an der Gefährdung ihres eigenen Wohlstands schuld zu sein, ist dabei das größte Problem. Ihr zunehmender Hass auf die Unterschicht ist eigentlich irrational. Es wäre in ihrem besten Interesse, die Sozialsysteme wieder herzustellen, nicht nur um selbst wieder ein Fangnetz zu haben, sondern auch, weil es die eigenen ökonomische Situation sicherer gestalten würde. Selbst die Reichen müssten ein Interesse am Erhalt des sozialen Friedens haben, das zumindest rudimentär vorhanden ist. Doch davon ist nichts zu spüren. Sie behandeln den Staat zunehmend als ihr Eigentum und pressen ihn aus, so gut sie können.
(The middle class is directing its agression on the disadvantaged because it believes they (the poor) are to blame for their own precarious economic situation - hardly surpising given the current public discourse. Its growing hatred of the lower class is actually irrational. it would be in the best interest of the middle class to restore the social programs that would provide them with a safety net and would provide some degree of economic stability. Even the wealthy have an interest in maintaining the social peace which to some extent still exists. But there is no evidence of this. More and more they treat the state as their own possession and squeeze as much as they can from it.)
Of course, we are seeing a similar development in the US, where wealthy politicans are calling for a dismantlement of what little safety net exists for the middle class - in the name of fiscal responsibility - while demanding tax breaks for the rich.
The trend, as Sasse notes, will lead to a "turning away from democracy" (Abwendung von der Demokratie) as the middle class in the US and Germany vanishes and economic disparities grow.
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