In researching my topic, I came across a comparison of statistics that holds tremendous value when observing the charitable world. In an archive found in an online magazine titled, The Atlantic, One of the most surprising facts of charity in this country is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income. In 2011, the most rich Americans, those with make anywhere in the top 20 percent, contributed on average 1.3% of their income to charity. In comparison, One of the most surprising, and perhaps confounding, facts of charity in America is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income. In 2011, the wealthiest Americans—those with earnings in the top 20 percent—contributed on average 1.3 percent of their income to charity. By comparison, Americans at the base of the income pyramid, those in the bottom 20 percent, gave 3.2% of their income. There is room for interpretation and debate as to why this is an absolute reality. Many potential psychological reasons for why these numbers appear the way they do. The most appropriate reason I believe is exposure. Many of the world’s wealthiest grow up in this affluential environment. They do not truly understand how most of the world is living. A study created to test this phenomenon finds that when the rich and poorer classes are exposed first hand to the overwhelming amount of poverty shows that most people all react almost identically.
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