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The popularity of being stressed by work/busyness is just Puritan work ethic continuing into the 21st century. When work is seen as inherently moral by a societ

The popularity of being stressed by work/busyness is just Puritan work ethic continuing into the 21st century. When work is seen as inherently moral by a society, then being busy makes you a more worthwhile member of that society. It might’ve been a good idea back when we were subsistence farmers, but it doesn’t seem to be super effective nowadays. Outrage culture, which I don’t think has gone away, appears to be new.

oh_sigh 7y ago
The puritans were a tiny group of people who lived in basically one corner of one state. I know it is thrown around a lot(e.g. "Why is America so conservative on sex? Puritans"), but I'm fairly sure the 98+% of non-puritans who emigrated to the US had a bigger impact on our culture than the puritans.
- war1025 7y ago
  I believe the more general term is "Protestant Work Ethic", which encompasses a much larger swath of people.
- village-idiot 7y ago
  That’s like saying “most of the people in South America weren’t from Spain, why should 16th century Spanish culture have an impact on South America?” It kind of makes sense until you start counting how many people speak Spanish! The puritans are part of the founding myth of America. Ask any school child who founded the colonies and they’ll tell you the pilgrims. That kind of impact lingers. Nobody ever mentions Dutch settlers in what’s now New York or the Spanish in what’s now Florida. That doesn’t mean we’re literally puritans (which wasn’t my claim anyways), but that does mean that the echoes of their culture still have an impact on us today. And, as others have kindly pointed out, “Protestant work ethic” is considered a valid term for the same historical/social trends by academics.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- sudosteph 7y ago
  You're being a little pendantic. I think the original commenter clearly meant the better known phrase "protestant work ethic" rather than puritan - and protestant influence was indeed very significant to the formation of US culture.
phd514 7y ago
From an economic perspective, the "Puritan work ethic" as coined by Max Weber and described as the impetus for economic development in post-Reformation cultures has been largely abandoned by economists. From a theological perspective, the "Protestant work ethic" refers to the idea that God does not favor clerical occupations over non-clerical occupations thus elevating the value of the work of the blacksmith, farmer, etc. to the same level as that of the priest, monk, etc. Neither support the idea that busyness or overwork are virtuous.
- village-idiot 7y ago
  > The Protestant work ethic, the Lutheran work ethic, the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic is a work ethic concept in theology, sociology, economics and history that emphasizes that hard work, discipline and frugality. > The concept is often credited with helping to define the societies of Northern, Central and Western Europe. Even though some of these countries were more affected by Lutheranism or Anglicanism than Calvinism, local Protestants nevertheless were influenced by these ideas to a varying degree. As penal law was enacted to uphold the uniform teachings of the Church of England in England, only various English dissenters held to those values. Among them were the Puritans who emigrated to New England, bringing the work ethic with them and helping define the culture of what would become the United States of America. > Hard work and frugality were thought to be two important consequences of being one of the elect. Protestants were thus attracted to these qualities and supposed to strive for reaching them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic All of the dissent I see on that page is about whether or not capitalism is inherently protestant, and whether protestant work ethic explains the relative riches of northern protestant nations over southern catholic ones. While that's interesting economic ground to argue over, it's completely irrelevant to the social phenomena I'm trying to pin down.
  - phd514 7y ago
    That Wikipedia article is horrible and incorrectly states the common misconceptions about the Protestant work ethic. Worse still, it cites Leland Ryken in its second reference who makes precisely the same point about the common misunderstandings of the Protestant work ethic: > The Puritans never conceived of work apart from a spiritual and moral context of service to God and man. Richard Nixon's much-quoted Labor Day message of 1971 probably summed up the popular conception of the "Puritan work ethic," but if so, it is an inaccurate picture: >"The 'work ethic' holds that labor is good in itself; that a man or woman becomes a better person by virtue of the act of working. America's competitive spirit, the 'work ethic' of this people... the value of achievement, the morality of self-reliance-- none of these is going out of style. (Nixon)" >I trust that I have shown that the Puritans would not have been content with such a theory of work. Their ideals were obedience to God, service to humanity, and reliance on God's grace. In the Puritan ethic, the virtue of work depended almost wholly on the motives with which people performed it.

oh_sigh 7y ago

The puritans were a tiny group of people who lived in basically one corner of one state. I know it is thrown around a lot(e.g. "Why is America so conservative on sex? Puritans"), but I'm fairly sure the 98+% of non-puritans who emigrated to the US had a bigger impact on our culture than the puritans.

war1025 7y ago
I believe the more general term is "Protestant Work Ethic", which encompasses a much larger swath of people.
village-idiot 7y ago
That’s like saying “most of the people in South America weren’t from Spain, why should 16th century Spanish culture have an impact on South America?” It kind of makes sense until you start counting how many people speak Spanish! The puritans are part of the founding myth of America. Ask any school child who founded the colonies and they’ll tell you the pilgrims. That kind of impact lingers. Nobody ever mentions Dutch settlers in what’s now New York or the Spanish in what’s now Florida. That doesn’t mean we’re literally puritans (which wasn’t my claim anyways), but that does mean that the echoes of their culture still have an impact on us today. And, as others have kindly pointed out, “Protestant work ethic” is considered a valid term for the same historical/social trends by academics.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
sudosteph 7y ago
You're being a little pendantic. I think the original commenter clearly meant the better known phrase "protestant work ethic" rather than puritan - and protestant influence was indeed very significant to the formation of US culture.

phd514 7y ago

From an economic perspective, the "Puritan work ethic" as coined by Max Weber and described as the impetus for economic development in post-Reformation cultures has been largely abandoned by economists. From a theological perspective, the "Protestant work ethic" refers to the idea that God does not favor clerical occupations over non-clerical occupations thus elevating the value of the work of the blacksmith, farmer, etc. to the same level as that of the priest, monk, etc. Neither support the idea that busyness or overwork are virtuous.

village-idiot 7y ago
> The Protestant work ethic, the Lutheran work ethic, the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic is a work ethic concept in theology, sociology, economics and history that emphasizes that hard work, discipline and frugality. > The concept is often credited with helping to define the societies of Northern, Central and Western Europe. Even though some of these countries were more affected by Lutheranism or Anglicanism than Calvinism, local Protestants nevertheless were influenced by these ideas to a varying degree. As penal law was enacted to uphold the uniform teachings of the Church of England in England, only various English dissenters held to those values. Among them were the Puritans who emigrated to New England, bringing the work ethic with them and helping define the culture of what would become the United States of America. > Hard work and frugality were thought to be two important consequences of being one of the elect. Protestants were thus attracted to these qualities and supposed to strive for reaching them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic All of the dissent I see on that page is about whether or not capitalism is inherently protestant, and whether protestant work ethic explains the relative riches of northern protestant nations over southern catholic ones. While that's interesting economic ground to argue over, it's completely irrelevant to the social phenomena I'm trying to pin down.
- phd514 7y ago
  That Wikipedia article is horrible and incorrectly states the common misconceptions about the Protestant work ethic. Worse still, it cites Leland Ryken in its second reference who makes precisely the same point about the common misunderstandings of the Protestant work ethic: > The Puritans never conceived of work apart from a spiritual and moral context of service to God and man. Richard Nixon's much-quoted Labor Day message of 1971 probably summed up the popular conception of the "Puritan work ethic," but if so, it is an inaccurate picture: >"The 'work ethic' holds that labor is good in itself; that a man or woman becomes a better person by virtue of the act of working. America's competitive spirit, the 'work ethic' of this people... the value of achievement, the morality of self-reliance-- none of these is going out of style. (Nixon)" >I trust that I have shown that the Puritans would not have been content with such a theory of work. Their ideals were obedience to God, service to humanity, and reliance on God's grace. In the Puritan ethic, the virtue of work depended almost wholly on the motives with which people performed it.