Corruption of our Moral Sentiments

From Maxspeak:

“The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.”

— Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments

And his economic analysis/commentary is often worth taking a look at.