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Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

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Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#31

Post by steveBK123 »

You had the post-WW2 boom, which then wound down in the 80s/90s but there was a small resurgence of "everyone is getting rich" in the late-90s Dotcom bubble and then finally the run up into the housing bubble.

Since we have fallen back to a more historically traditional model - hard work can advance your life, but you are capped within certain bands by where you start, by and large.

Where you start is regional, family money & upbringing and then finally level/quality/quantity of educational attainment. Of course all 3 of those things are hugely interlinked. And if you start too low it's exceedingly hard to break out. If you start sufficiently high, its very hard to fall down.

The wool has been pulled from GenZs eyes (or was never there, given what they've grown up in) and they see the world for what it has become..

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#32

Post by hawk_ »

cousin_it wrote: post #17
hawk_ wrote: post #4

There was a short window of time (anthropological scale) in the western world where this was seemingly true. The American conservative propaganda latched onto it and tricked people into thinking it was true. The fact is whenever quick upward mobility has been possible anywhere for a large number of people, it has been built upon slavery, colonialism and/or cheap imported labour. It was someone else's hard work that w…

> The fact is whenever quick upward mobility has been possible anywhere for a large number of people, it has been built upon slavery, colonialism and/or cheap imported labour. Which of these was responsible for China's rise from poverty?

It wasn't imported in case of China only technically. The rural to urban route was "imported" labor that mostly made city dwellers rich.

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#33

Post by dvh1990 »

Just working hard was never a guarantee of anything, but when is it ever a bad idea to adopt a positive mindset about putting in the work to achieve something? It's not like that DOESN'T work? You can get pretty far if you put your mind to it.

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#34

Post by mistermann »

> “The informed public – wealthier, more educated, and frequent consumers of news – remain far more trusting of every institution than the mass population.

> “In a majority of markets, less than half of the mass population trust their institutions to do what is right.

> Trust levels among the informed public in Australia were at 68 per cent, far higher than the 45 per cent recorded among the mass population.

I wonder what the meaning of "informed" is in this context? Someone who keeps abreast of "the facts" from consuming the news?

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#36

Post by BuyMyBitcoins »

I still think hard work and dedication is a virtue and our culture should continue to view it that way. However I think the work ethic should apply towards one’s family, friends, and community rather than just one’s job. In other words we should celebrate hard work but not being a workaholic or company-man.

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#37

Post by esens »

Working hard but doing so for someone else can often not lead to significant gains. Many services like Uber or InstaCart or even McDonalds or Amazon Warehouse or Walmart or Retail Sales or call center, you can work hard but there is no where to progress to. Your rewards are capped.

You need to find a way to work hard such that your rewards are not capped artificially. Startups were you get equity. Large companies where you can progress to high salaries if you are able to rise. Starting your own business and being competent at it. Working on commissions in an area where the commissions can be large -- true sales, or real estate. Being a professional, e.g. doctor, accountant, lawyer, has traditionally had high wages and you often run your own business.

You need to work hard in a way that has unlimited rewards, or at least high rewards possible, and that aligns with your aptitudes.

You need to not work hard at a minimum wage job if you can get something better.

And if you are stuck in a minimum wage job, maybe you can organize with your fellow employees to demand better wages and benefits? This is also another way of working hard in order to get more for yourself.

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#38

Post by ep103 »

hawk_ wrote: post #4

There was a short window of time (anthropological scale) in the western world where this was seemingly true. The American conservative propaganda latched onto it and tricked people into thinking it was true. The fact is whenever quick upward mobility has been possible anywhere for a large number of people, it has been built upon slavery, colonialism and/or cheap imported labour. It was someone else's hard work that w…

This has been true whenever a society has injected large amounts of capital into the bottom classes of its society.

Slavery, colonialism, and cheap imported labor are ways that lower mercantile classes can see significant wealth (generated from slavery, the colonies, or cheap labor) injected into their class at very little expense. However, they are not the only ways. Expansion into new territory, gold rushes, new technology, and governmental policy are among a very long list of other things that can have this same effect.

The most important one for a society, however, is the fact that sufficiently progressive taxation and societal reinvestment can do this as well.

This is one of the primary reasons why democratic capitalistic states tend to have better overall growth than more strongly state capital societies. And more controversially (and far too complex to talk about here) why socialist countries were often able to industrialize in under a generation.

When hard work can't guarantee a better life, it is a sign that a democratic society has hit a degree of wealth inequality great enough to translate into a failure of democratic society to represent and act on behalf of the interests of the majority of its population.

The fact that this is the historical norm is a reflection of the history of authoritarianism (monarchism) in human history, not some unwritten rule of physics.

Re: Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life

#39

Post by rdtwo »

etempleton wrote: post #30

One trend I have noticed is a grass is always greener hiring mentality at a lot of companies. That is, looking external for new hires versus promoting from within. This forces folks to jump around for career progression. And those that are not as willing to jump around feeling discouraged that no matter how hard they work they will likely be overlooked for someone from the outside. To this end hard work is discourage…

Promoting from within means you have to forgo quick wins for long them gains. That’s just not how US managers age leaders think.
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