Army of Altruists by David Graeber

Full text https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-army-of-altruists

David Graeber (1961- ) is an anarchist, anthropologist, and activist who currently holds a professorship in anthropology at the London School of Economics. Graeber has written extensively on theories of value, social theory, direct action, and ethnographic theory. He participated in the Occupy movement and is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.

In this essay, Graeber links the psychological impulses of bullying--both of bullies and of passive observers of bullying--to structures of power inherent within hierarchical authority. He contends that from a young age, we are socialized to side with bullies and against victims, and we are socialized to see victims as either deserving their punishment or of having the same moral worth as the bullies themselves.