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It’s not just that. It has puritan religous undertones. Work is virtuous, and god rewards those that have his favor. Therefore those that have less, are obvious
by jonathankoren 3y ago
It’s not just that. It has puritan religous undertones. Work is virtuous, and god rewards those that have his favor. Therefore those that have less, are obviously outside of god’s favor. Why are they not rewarded? Because they aren’t virtuous, and since work is virtue, they must be shifty and lazy.
This is very deep seated idea in American culture. It manifests all sorts of ways. Deference to the rich, because clearly every rich person got and stayed rich through hard work and skill, instead of luck and family connections. Harsher penalities for poor people crimes, rather than rich people crimes. Constant monitoring for low wage workers, but no monitoring of high wage ones. Egregious hoops and monitoring for welfare, versus tax credits. Hell, even modern evangelical grifters leverage this idea with their prosperity gospel lies.
- d0gsg0w00f 3y agoHow rich are we talking? I'm just talking about your average schmuck pulling in $120k in a white collar job. Very unlikely that these types are leveraging family connections. It just takes a four year degree, washing your car, and being able to host some coworkers for lunch. Disclaimer: I believe it's society's duty to shame the shifless and lazy. And most of the behaviors that are taught by religions are rooted in anecdotal evidence over hundreds of years. Harder workers usually succeed more than the lazy. It's a lot more effective to say "hard work = heaven". And it's not even really about "success". Giving a damn about what you do in this life is key to a life of happiness and therefore a life aimed at a target and governed by rules about how to interact with your fellow man. "Giving a damn" is the most important foundation for financial success as well.