The poor person who perceives his condition as an injustice of the cosmic order and who asks for redress, so to speak, from the entire creation will easily consider any individual who is in better circumstances than he jointly liable for his claims against society. This leads to a scale which goes from the delinquent proletarian who sees in any well-dressed person an enemy, a representative of the “exploiting” class who can be robbed in good conscience, to the humble beggar who asks for charity “for the love of God,” as though each individual had the obligation of filling the holes of the order which God desired but has not fully implemented.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 408