Vices like pettiness and vanity stem from powerlessness, not innate character

Evidence

The higher one’s position in life, the easier it is to develop intelligence and every other ability … This is not just true for social achievement, but for every other quality that a person can have as well. Pleasure in cheap amusements, narrow-minded fondness for petty possessions, empty discussion of one’s own concerns, comical vanities and sensitivities, in short the whole wretchedness of dejected existence, do not occur wherever power gives men and women contentment in their lives and allows them to develop. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 192

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prostitutes’ misery stems from material exploitation, not moral character — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1680

Broader Connections

• Prostitutes’ misery stems from material exploitation, not moral character #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1680