Jerome G. Manis

Bernard N. Meltzer

A Reader in Social Psychology

Symbolic Interaction

Websters Dictionary traces "sociopathic" usage to 1944, defining it as "characterized by asocial or antisocial behavior, or a psychopathic nature. "Sociopathy" is used in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM). Especially notable and and influential has been Adam Smith. His first book was entitled The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Its first chapter was on "sympathy." The first few lines of its first paragraph are quite different from the modern economists image of Adam Smith. To Mona Charen, "Liberals have hurt the poor, to be sure. But they are also engaged in a long-term guerrilla war on Americas soul." 21st century capitalism differs enormously from its 18th century predecessor--ascetic capitalism. Abstinence, austerity, frugality. spirituality, and virtue play scant part in the higher levels of contemporary successful capitalists. Milton Friedmans 1970 article in the New York Times makes clear his view of business: "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits."Throughout the article he made clear that "only people can have responsibilities" while business can have no other purpose than to "increase its profits." The 14th amendment. enacted for the protection of freed slaves, was then used as a precedent for defining a corporation as a "natural person." Since then, the courts have struck down hundreds of laws protecting citizens from corporations. Millions of severe illnesses and deaths are the result of deliberate actions by the chief executives of the tobacco industry. Are they not sociopathic leaders, as well their major stockholders? The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group, published in 2003 by Dan Briody, demonstrates where military, industry, and government have finally been unified.

Jerome G. Manis

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