Greed was different in the Middle Ages.

[HiPointDem]

4. I think you used to see the same kind of dynamic in small towns. You couldn't be mean to

people because there were so many interconnections and dependencies, you had to make the effort to be fair.

I think it's not so much people's view of money & wealth, but that in a smaller-scale society the zero-sum nature of wealth is easier to see -- how A got rich by stealing from B, etc. -- and power is more balanced. B could rally his relatives and friends and murder A in his bed, stop laboring in A's fields, etc.

Old-time mores used to include not bragging or displaying wealth conspicuously, not complimenting people on possessions -- all I suspect evolved to keep envy to a minimum & maintain social harmony. Thus modesty was a virtue. Nowadays we're counseled the opposite -- to "advertise our brand" -- though most people still don't like a conspicuous braggart. But envy-inciting display of wealth & status is ubiquitous.