What do people in the United States and Europe think about the rich?
There are several thousand books and articles on stereotypes and
prejudices directed at countless different social groups. In contrast,
there has only been sporadic research into stereotypes about the rich
and no published comprehensive, scientific study on the topic--until
now. Negative prejudices and stereotypes have repeatedly been used to
justify the exclusion, expulsion, persecution, and murder of minorities
who have been scapegoated at times of social crises. The 20th century is
full of examples of wealthy people, including capitalists, kulaks, and
other groups, who were victims of deadly persecution. These were
exceptional situations but, even in moderate forms, prejudice against
social groups harms society as a whole--not just the rich--through
economic or physical destruction and declining prosperity. In The Rich
in Public Opinion: What We Think When We Think about Wealth, historian
and sociologist Rainer Zitelmann examines attitudes about wealth and the
wealthy in four industrialized Western countries: Germany, the United
States, France, and Great Britain. Consisting of three parts, this book
first surveys the literature about stereotypes and prejudices. Zitelmann
then reports on never‐before‐seen data commissioned by the polling firm
Ipsos MORI and from the Allensbach Institute, which conducted identical
surveys of residents of the four countries regarding various aspects of
their attitudes toward wealth. Lastly, The Rich in Public Opinion looks
at the portrayal of the rich in media and film. People often admire the
wealthy, but Zitelmann shows that people can also envy them--a sometimes
toxic envy that can put lives at risk. This book aims to examine how we
think about a minority that, while undeniably powerful, can still be the
subject of scapegoating--often with dire effects for us all.
