Affluenza- It’s a Thing?

In a breaking story that reads like a fictional example of postmodern materialism, a pyschological condition called “affluenza” played a role in the sentencing of a teen’s drunk driving manslaughter case.

Although not a recognized diagnosis, “affluenza” is a term coined in the 90’s to describe a severe lack of depth and moral understanding present in the extremely wealthy. A psychologist who examined the defendant described him as never having been taught to apologize or feel sorry for doing wrong: when he hurt someone, he sent them money. From details reported in the story, it sounds like he had a truly terrible upbringing.

The interesting issue here, is that a court ruled that this sixteen-year-old’s level of punishment was drastically affected by a seemingly negligent home life. Though convicted of his crime, the teen was given ten years of probation instead of spending time in jail. The court cited his need of therapy to learn basic moral reasoning as the reason for this seemingly lightened sentence.

There are a couple interesting issues here. First, this ruling clearly presupposes that substantive moral reasoning is either a) not inherently present in the human soul or b) capable of being fundamentally and overwhelmingly corrupted by a poor upbringing. Secondly, the ruling acknowledges the often overlooked possibility that too much wealth or reckless wealth is inherently harmful to the human soul.

The consumerism of the rich is increasingly criticized in 21st century America, but not for the right reasons. The last decade has seen a rise in “class” rhetoric and the envy that accompanies it. The rich seem to be poor stewards of what they have and the poor seem to hate them for it. Perhaps, however, the rich are just as trapped and manipulated by their wealth as the frustrated poor are by their lack thereof. Income equality won’t make us any more virtuous.

This is the sort of thing one might choose as plotline for a dystopian novel: a culture of obsessive consumerism tries to buy its way out of a concept of personal culpability and failure only to be confronted with the inescapable truth that human life is fragile and co-dependent. It is truly tragic that the deaths of four people brought this situation to public light, but perhaps it can spark an important conversation