Unmasking greed: The evolution of a complex and innate desire

Over time, economists and philosophers have held different views on greed. There are those who see it as a drive for self-preservation and as a force of economic growth at a societal level. Michael Douglas’s famous monologue in the movie Wall Street (2010) (in which he plays the role of the fictional financier Gordon Gekko), captures these views: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.” It has also been suggested that political systems designed to eliminate greedy behaviors have led to poverty and chaos.

Greed is innate and present not just in humans but in animals too. The desire to accumulate food/money is a survival strategy in part. Money is linked to our survival and the threat of not having enough evokes primitive anxieties. Evolutionary psychologists believe that greed serves our objective of perpetuating our genetic code because, by pushing us to amass status-signalling possessions, we increase our chances of attracting a mate.

However, many hold the opposing view. Economist and political theorist John Maynard Keynes saw love of money as a kind of madness. He called “money-motive” a way in which we turn something bad into something good. We turn ruthless greed into something morally impressive. Greed can be a destructive force both at a societal and at an individual level. It can turn into a harmful, immoral and exploitative force. Some say that we live in a social and economic system that promotes and even institutionalises greed, leading to societal problems such as inequality, corruption, financial crises, and even war.

Otto Fenichel was one of the first psychoanalysts to suggest, in 1938, that capitalism was one of the strong forces promoting the accumulation of wealth: “The capitalist, under penalty of his own destruction, must strive to accumulate wealth.” But, he says, we are driven by both internal and external forces in our pursuit of money. Internally, we have narcissistic needs that we seek to satisfy through money. He is referring to the fact that young children feel omnipotent and “that throughout their lives a certain memory of this omnipotence remains with a longing to attain it again.” Money becomes symbolic of a potential supply of power and of self-esteem because in our society, power and respect are based on the possession of money. This internal drive for power and self-esteem is reinforced by a societal perception.

He emphasized that it is the interplay of internal and external forces that shape our drive to amass wealth and that it would be limiting to consider one and not the other. The realities of money in society cannot be ignored. He wrote, “In our society the possessor of money is honored and truly powerful.”

Melanie Klein, whose groundbreaking work in child psychotherapy has greatly shaped psychoanalytic thinking, also saw the child as being shaped by a continuous interplay of both internal and external factors. But when speaking of external factors she emphasized the caregivers’ response to the infant’s greed. Greed is both an innate force but also something moderated or exacerbated by the responses we get from our caregivers when we express our desire for more. How does the world respond to us? Do we get more when we ask for more? Do we get told off or punished for being greedy/needy?

Adding to the external forces that shape our perception of greed is religion. Most religions condemn it. In Christianity, it is a cardinal sin (best demonstrated by Judas’s betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver). In Buddhism, it is one of three causes of human suffering (along with ignorance and anger). Examples abound from many different religions. In Dante [Alighieri]’s Inferno, the avaricious (or hoarders of money) and the prodigal (those who spent it lustfully) appear in the same circle of hell to indicate that both groups were guilty of the same sin — the inability to make use of their fortunes in moderation.

In Greek mythology, the story of King Midas ridicules the avid pursuit of wealth. Midas helped Dionysus (the god of wine and ecstasy) find his father and was rewarded with a wish. Midas wished for anything he touched to turn to gold. In his hastened choice of wish, he overlooked the fact that even his food would turn to gold and was therefore threatened with the prospect of starvation as a result of his foolish desire. In a later version of the story, even his daughter, whom he touched, turned to gold. Some versions of the mythical story have him reverse the curse of his gift, yet others see him die of starvation. Regardless of the version, it is a tale rich in meaning: Money doesn’t result in happiness and its pursuit can turn into a curse and become a destructive force. The god that had granted Midas’s wish, Dionysus, was in fact a two-faced god in that he represented happiness but could also deliver brutal rage as a result of overindulgence (echoing the dual nature of wine). With Midas too, excessive greed turned out to have a dark side.

Greed often has negative connotations and some of the people reading [this] might recognize themselves in some examples but be compelled to debate that “mine is not greed, it’s fear, it’s anxiety, it’s ….” However, only until we can face the fact that there are feelings within us — which could very well be fear, but often greed alongside it — that generate our desire for more, do we stand a chance to understand and change our behaviors. It is only when we can face the fact that we may be incessantly longing for more that we can stop and ask ourselves: Why isn’t what I have enough? What do I imagine more will actually give me? What am I afraid of?

And then there are those who, despite having accumulated more wealth than they ever imagined, still feel empty or unfulfilled. Money was supposed to deliver something, and it failed. For some it’s a sense of love, for others a sense of inner worthiness, and yet for others happiness. Imagine working tirelessly for an entire lifetime to end up in the same place where you started. It was all an illusion. Money was idealized, and we attributed all sorts of magical qualities to it, only to find out that what we were hoping to buy wasn’t up for sale.