http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/halevy_power_2011.html - about how there is an interaction between the authority provided to an individual by a job, and the perception of the status of that person.
This interaction especially correlates to the rule of bureaucracy that says "the more petty the status of a bureaucrat, the more arbitrary and obnoxious their use of the power that their job grants".
This interaction especially correlates to the rule of bureaucracy that says "the more petty the status of a bureaucrat, the more arbitrary and obnoxious their use of the power that their job grants".
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Give somebody power over other people and they'll abuse it. The more power given, the more abuse, and the less they'll care, because they figure they're above having to answer to those with less power.
Politicians, Wall Street, take your pick.
It's gotta be a basic flaw at the genetic level.
I can understand it fairly easily as "even though I am not valued in any way, I have the very real and demonstrable power to take revenge if someone tries to devalue me for being in this position of servitude to them."