The privileged really are less empathic

[DJP]

[DJP]

And there's more…http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-studies-show-how-wealth-warps-your-soul

[SocialistPunk]

Interesting stuff DJP.I did a bit of digging about and found articles about the levels of charitable donations among lower income groups and higher income groups in America. The amounts in terms of dollars donated by the rich where higher, but in terms of percentage of income they where significantly lower. The general explanation was that those who had more wealth were more socially isolated from the affects of poverty. They just didn't see it. They tended to give more to the arts and educational causes, rather than the alleviation of the effects of poverty.The below quote comes from the link you provide. I find this one particularly interesting. I can see how the rich being isolated from the social affects of poverty, just don't connect with the reality of what it's like. But the wealthy surely must be aware of what is going on in the world, poverty, starvation, war is everywhere to be seen in the media. It would seem to explain quite a lot. 

Quote:

4. Too Much Money Can Make You Less Empathetic: UCLA's Keely Muscatell found that people with great income “exhibit less activity in the regions of the brain associated empathy when shown pictures of kids with cancer.” Researcher Dacher Keltner found in twelve different studies that “lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”

[Author]

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