Chapter 6: Perceptions of Greed: A Distributive Injustice Model

Despite the fact that Gordon Gekko is a fictitious character, his sentiments appear to have taken root in American society. Relatively strong cultural norms of individual achievement may have resulted in a higher tolerance for what otherwise would be labeled greedy behavior. However, recently many have questioned the “greed is good” mentality, and the popular press is filled with criticisms of excessive greed in business (e.g., Colvin, 2006; Sarna, 2010). The dot-com boom, corporate accounting scandals like Tyco and Enron, and the behavior of business moguls like Gary Winnick and Bernie Madoff all have prompted attributions of greed. People expressed outrage at the greed of Wall Street when Goldman Sachs offered billions in bonuses while the economy was collapsing and the U.S. government was bailing out the banking sector (Ausick, 2010). Even the 2010 sequel to the movie Wall Street has Gordon Gekko questioning, “is greed good?”