Causes of Money Attitudes

The goal of this chapter is to identify certain causes of the phenomenon of the tension between money and medicine, and the corresponding money attitudes. By no means does this imply that these are the only causes of money attitudes. Rather, these are the causes found in the empirical data gathered in this study. First, status will be examined, in particular the interplay between money and status signaling. Status signaling may be directed internally, toward peers, or externally, toward groups outside of the medical profession. Second, the concept of compensation will be explored, such as the potential of monetary resources to serve as a compensatory mechanism for deficiencies in competence, power, recognition (or respect), and security. Finally, the chapter closes with a discussion of the influence of personality, where different aspects related to individual characteristics are explored, such as impression management of status, delusions of grandeur, persecutory delusions, an impoverishment delusion, a sense of justice, and a level of ruthlessness. All of these influence money-purpose attitudes. These results are causes of the money-purpose-attitude that serve as additions to the more general explanations offered by Georg Simmel.