Bi-Annual Conference of the International
Society for Research on Emotion
July 8-10, 2015
Liberal and Conservative Reactions to the Excesses of
Capitalism: Fairness or Envy?
Richard Smith, Charles E. Hoogland, Alexandra R. Martin
University of Kentucky
Political debates about issues such as the appropriate tax rates for the wealthy
and the morality of extreme forms of capitalism often center on the emotionrelated motives that appear to drive opinions. Are liberals who criticize the
huge profits gained by private equity firms simply envious, for example? If so,
does appeasing the “envious” harm general economic welfare more than the
creative destruction inherent in capitalism? Two studies examined the possible role of political ideology in envy-based motivations, both in terms of how
liberals and conservatives are perceived and well as their self-reported motivations. In Study 1 participants screened for their liberal or conservative views later read accounts of individuals protesting Wall Street excesses. Conservatives,
compared to liberals, indeed tended to perceive such protests as motivated
by envy. By contrast, liberals, compared to conservatives, tended to perceive
the protests as motivated by concerns over justice and attributed the excesses
to greed. Study 2 examined liberal or conservative participants’ actual reactions to wealthy entrepreneurs who either did or did not harm workers in the
process of attaining their wealth. Overall, compared to conservatives, liberals
were slightly more envious of wealthy entrepreneurs. Compared to liberals,
conservatives saw even those actions that harmed workers as fairer than liberals. However, both political groups viewed harm-doing actions as much less
fair than action causing no harm. Whether harm was done or not, liberals perceived more unfairness than conservatives. This perceived unfairness was correlated with greater envy in liberals. The findings of these two studies have
a number of implications for an understanding of the role of envy in politics.
First, in terms of perceptions, consistent with common observations, conservatives will tend to view protests against the excesses of capitalism as motivated
by envy. However, liberals will tend to view these protests as motivated by justice. There is only slight evidence for liberals actually feeling more envy than
conservatives in terms of their reported reactions. Furthermore, concerns over
justice appear to have especially close links with how liberals react to the excesses of capitalism. Although the interplay of envy and concerns over justice is
highly complex, sorting out these reactions will go a long way to understanding
motivations linked to political ideology.
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