{"id":276951,"date":"2024-10-21T12:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=276951"},"modified":"2024-10-14T05:38:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T04:38:12","slug":"psychopathy-incorporated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/10\/psychopathy-incorporated\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychopathy Incorporated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abstract<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The purpose of this paper is to provide a qualitative structural analysis of capitalism and demonstrate that it needs to be defined as a \u201cpsychopathic system.\u201d <\/em>Its inherent structural dynamics violently centralize and concentrate wealth and ideological and political power in the hands of a \u201cpsychopathic ruling class\u201d <\/em>with callous disregard for the resulting socio-ecological destruction. For epistemological clarity and clinical, criminological accuracy, global capitalism should be defined as \u201cPsychopathy Incorporated.\u201d <\/em>Critical realism becomes a discipline of humane self-defense against psychopathy in power. Perpetuating capitalism proves to be demonstrably clinically and criminally insane. From a rational, humanitarian perspective, the radical solutions to our contemporary predicament are to fully acknowledge the trans-historical problem of psychopathy in power, criminalize capitalism and humanize socio-economic structures.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Psychopathic Mindset and Pathocracy throughout History<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ultimate goal of \u201cthe psychopathic mindset\u201d <\/em>is (and has always been) full spectrum dominance and the enslavement and exploitation of human societies (de Batselier, 1988; Lobaczewski, 1992; Priels, 2022; Turchin, 2016). Psychopaths see themselves as superior, enjoy human suffering, and have no empathy or conscience (Baron- Cohen, 2012). Wherever they can, they will attempt to seize power and shape culture and social structures to further their egotistic interests of wealth and power accumulation. There is ample historical evidence for this process, and the anthropological science of \u201ccliodynamics\u201d <\/em>(Turchin, 2016) can be seen through the lens of \u201cpolitical ponerology\u201d <\/em>(Lobaczewski, 1992), to reveal the operations of psychopathy in power throughout history. Tribal societies tend to be egalitarian until there are \u201cpsychopathic upshots\u201d (Turchin, 2016) that society cannot regulate. This process of \u201cpsychopathic capture\u201d <\/em>or \u201csuccessful psychopathy\u201d <\/em>is social kryptonite (de Batselier, 1988; Priels, 2022; Shiva, 2019; Turchin, 2016).<\/p>\n

When we look at history, we see clear and repetitive examples of \u201cpsychopathic capture\u201d <\/em>resulting in \u201cpsychopathic empire-building.\u201d <\/em>I will give an example from Peter Turchin\u2019s \u201cUltrasociety\u201d <\/em>(2016) that demonstrates how the exploitation by psychopaths in power always results in the exploitation and suffering of the population at large similarly throughout history. This brings the lens of \u201cpolitical ponerology\u201d <\/em>(Lobaczewski, 1992) to the science of \u201cclio-dynamics\u201d <\/em>(Turchin, 2016).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe image of rulers \u201ceating\u201d common people in archaic states crops up worldwide. To give another example, in ancient India, the king (raja) was called \u2018the devourer of peasants\u2019 (vishamatta).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut perhaps the most remarkable evidence of how common people viewed the ruling elites in archaic states comes from Shi Jing or the Book of Odes…<\/em><\/p>\n

Large rat! Large rat! Do not eat our millet.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three years have we had to do with you,<\/em><\/p>\n

And you have not been willing to show any regard for us. We will leave you,<\/em><\/p>\n

And go to happy land. Happy land! Happy land! There we shall find our place. Large rat! Large rat!<\/em><\/p>\n

Do not eat our wheat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three years have we had to do with you,<\/em><\/p>\n

And you have not been willing to show any kindness to us. We will leave you,<\/em><\/p>\n

And go to happy state. Happy State! Happy State!<\/em><\/p>\n

There shall we find ourselves right. Large rat! Large rat!<\/em><\/p>\n

Do not eat our springing grain!<\/em><\/p>\n

Three years have we had to do with you,<\/em><\/p>\n

And you have not been willing to think of our toil. We will leave you,<\/em><\/p>\n

And go to happy borders. Happy borders! Happy borders!<\/em><\/p>\n

Who will there make us always groan?\u201d (Turchin, 2016, chapter 7)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When we look at these historical trends, we see a repetitive zig-zag movement that goes between \u201cpathocracy\u201d <\/em>and \u201ddemocracy.\u201d <\/em>Agner Fog (2017) describes these polarities as \u201cregal\u201d <\/em>and \u201ckungic\u201d <\/em>and provides ample evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll through recorded history, we have seen extreme differences between different human societies. Some societies in some periods have been warlike and cruel beyond comprehension, while others in other times and places have been remarkably peaceful and tolerant.<\/em><\/p>\n

Societies that are warlike, hierarchical, and intolerant with strict discipline are called regal. Peaceful, egalitarian, and tolerant societies are called \u201ckungic.\u201d Many societies are something in between these two extremes.\u201d (Fog, 2017, introduction)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When we look at the science of \u201cpolitical ponerology\u201d <\/em>(Lobacewski, 1992) and the more recent scientific findings on psychopathy in power (Babiak et al., 2007), we can conclude that psychopathy in power offers the best explanation for one of these societal polarities. Moreover, in the light of \u201cProsocial Orthosociology,\u201d <\/em>we can describe them as \u201chealthy\u201d <\/em>(peaceful) or \u201cunhealthy\u201d <\/em>(warlike) societies. Psychopathy in power, in such view of organic sociology, is a severe societal disease, comparable to societal cancer, as the psychopathic elites extract the lifeblood from the social tissue to serve their pathological accumulation of wealth and power, resulting in widespread \u201csocial necrosis\u201d <\/em>(Goerner, 2019).<\/p>\n

With this historical introduction and basic scientific methodology, we can now address our current situation as a human species on a planetary level because this very problem of psychopathy in power that has been terrorizing societies throughout history has now reached rampant destructivity and corruption on a global level and a level of technocratic sophistication and wealth and power concentration that has become an existential threat to our very survival (Goerner, 2019; Hickel, 2020; Philips, 2018; Priels, 2022; Robinson, 2022)!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand at a precipice of extinction. Will we allow our humanity as living, conscious, intelligent, autonomous beings to be extinguished by a greedy machine that does not know limits and is unable to put a break on its colonization and destruction? Or <\/em>will we stop the machine and defend our humanity, freedom, and autonomy to protect life on earth?\u201d (Shiva, 2019, p. 181).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Findings and Discussion<\/h3>\n

Psychopathy Incorporated: How Capitalism Constitutes the Biggest Organized Crime System on Earth<\/strong><\/p>\n

TO READ FULL PAPER –> Download PDF file:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psychopathy Incorporated JOCRISE Koenraad Priels<\/a><\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

Koenraad Priels, Independent Researcher–Journal of Critical Realism in Socio-Economics (JOCRISE)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FEATURED RESEARCH PAPER<\/em><\/strong> STAYS POSTED FOR 2 WEEKS BEFORE BEING ARCHIVED<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The purpose of this paper is to provide a qualitative structural analysis of capitalism to be defined as a \u201cpsychopathic system.\u201d Its inherent structural dynamics violently centralize and concentrate wealth and ideological and political power in the hands of a \u201cpsychopathic ruling class.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":189119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[232,1778,1033,723],"class_list":["post-276951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paper-of-the-week","tag-capitalism","tag-conflict-analysis","tag-psychopathy","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276951"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277105,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276951\/revisions\/277105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}