Synopses & Reviews
As financial markets expand globally in response to economic and technological developments of the twenty-first century, our understanding and expectations of the people involved in these markets also change. Unmasking Financial Psychopaths suggests that an increasing number of financiers labeled "financial psychopaths" are not truly psychopathic, but instead are by-products of a rapidly changing personal and professional environment. Advances have been made in identifying psychopaths outside of situations accompanied by physical violence, yet it is still difficult to differentiate psychopaths in cultural settings that have adopted psychopathic behavioral tendencies as the norm. Within the investment sector, a fundamental transformation has occurred: the type of person employed by financial firms and the environment within which finance is conducted have both changed. Society's expectation of financiers adapted to these subtle, behind-the-scenes shifts, resulting the public at large perceiving more individuals in the financial sector as acting in a psychopathic manner. Being able to distinguish the truly psychopathic financier from individuals who conform to behavioral expectations is the first step towards a cultural shift away from accepted psychopathic behaviors in the financial sector.
Synopsis
As our global markets grow in response to the social and technological developments of the twenty-first century, our understanding and expectations of the people involved in these markets change as well. Unmasking Financial Psychopaths suggests that the increasing number of financiers labeled as financial psychopaths are not truly psychopathic, but are instead by-products of a rapidly changing environment - both personally and professionally. Financial psychopaths have been prevalent throughout time and we are only now becoming more adept at distinguishing them in situations other than those in which violent physical evidence is present. As this shift in detection continues, there has been a fundamental transformation within the investment sector itself - the type of person employed by financial firms has changed and/or the environment within which finance is conducted is different. In short, society's expectation of financiers has been modified, causing more individuals working in the financial sector to be perceived as acting in a psychopathic manner.
About the Author
Deborah W. Gregory is Lecturer in Finance at Bentley University, USA. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Jungian psychoanalyst (IAAP). Her work has been published in the Journal of Finance, the Financial Analysts' Journal, and the Journal of Financial Crime.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Entry into the Universe of Finance
3. The Impact of Culture
4. (R)evolutionary Happenings
5. Opportunities and the Changing Players
6. Identifying Psychopaths
7. Rogues and Psychopaths
8. Biotrophic Parasites and Psychopaths
9. Financial Psychopaths Unmasked