RE: Why Moral Comparisons May Be More Painful Than Social Ones
Wow, you certainly condensed a fascinating piece of research!
On the subject, the best "field" for field observations of this phenomenon is the United States. Especially, since "don't be judgmental" is said so much it might as well be banal. America is the land where the most-quoted saying of Jesus is "Judge not, lest ye be judged" - usually out of context. ;)
As for the paper, there's something intuitively compelling about its arguments. As left-wing radicals have long discovered to their frustration, mere differences in wealth don't rouse up much anger. The wealthy have to be depicted as immoral for those kind of arguments to get anywhere. I suggest that the increasing distribution of wealth is not a big deal in general society because the present-day rich folks express agreeable moral sentiments and eschew any opinions that could be widely construed as immoral - outside of social-conservative ranks, that is. They learned well from the example of (rich) celebrities.
One of the oddities of the United States ios why those same social conservatives - who are deeply moralistic people - are so easy to portray as bad guys: as either secretly immoral themselves or as not fit for modern society. There are two easy answers: a) the Jesus circuit are paying for their previous political sins (blue laws, Prohibition, etc.);; b) these people express their moral judgments in rough and outspoken language, thus making it easy to portray them as both uncouth and threatening.
Thank you. Fascinating points. I really don't know the answer for certain! I think part of the reason for inequality causing problems will always be the issue of envy. We are rarely satisfied with what we have and looking to others will almost inevitably create that feeling.
It is, but envy has its subtleties. It's easy for us to confute envy, jealousy and frustrated ambition.
Yes of course. Emotions are and the thoughts associated with them are often complex!
And the ways that certain cultures deal with that complexity are often fascinating. Again, I point to America. It's an American custom to conflate envy with jealousy by calling both "envy" and treating them both as jealousy. Real envy gets another label, like "hate" (in some circumstances.)
The above conflations go well with America being a business-minded society and a nation with an underclass that's subsidized by government assistance payments.
Yes I also think perhaps aspiration comes into it to - as you said frustrations are easier to take out on others than yourself. Also it is easier to blame someone else than bad luck. As humans we are prone to such types of thinking.