First time you showed up in my feed was with on the myth of political spectrum… and was immediately hooked! Love your videos. And this comment is very on point, you do (perhaps bc of history as being lawyer?) have a way of distilling difficult concepts and presenting concise arguments and points in your essays. Keep yup the great videos. Additionally, I love how you scrutinize potential sponsors, and don’t just team up with companies obviously trying to exploit you tubers and their fans to hock their often questionable, at best, offerings.
I live in Brazil and although I haven't read it in any academic source it seems obvious that we are in a transition from the Catholic(I don't know if we are still the country with the largest absolute number of Catholics) to the Protestant work ethic. It is noticeable how people are more exhausted by working more, feeling embarrassed if they are not super productive and even children are developing psychiatric illnesses earlier. Currently, schools are already starting to pressure 8-year-old students to prepare for university selection tests. For example when I was a child in the 80s, it was normal for my parents to have time to interact and making good friends with neighbors (we moved around a lot because of my father's work) that lasted a lifetime. Today I don't have the time or energy for that to the point where I don't remember their faces. I could mention other changes, but in short, there is now an atmosphere of competition rather than collaboration, we are more anxious and society is less and less a source of support. It seems to me dangerous for a biologically extremely sociable species that work has become in practice the only concern.
I don't think it is Protestant work ethics. It sounds more similar to capitalism work ethics. Protestant work ethics connect work to service to God and others' well being. I feel sorry for those over burdened children.
I am Brazilian too, from Santa Catarina, and I totally agree with this. My grandpa always complained about Brazilians, and latinos in general, being lazy stupid people while anglo germans are the people with real culture, work ethics and industriousness, but I never realized how wrong that observation was until I went to study in the United States, and I saw with my own eyes how the American protestant work ethic is an enormous factory of worker zombies while I started to remember how lively we Brazilians are as a people, even now though lesser than before. Of course there are many exceptions, and I don’t want to generalize, the midwest of America for example is a very nice place with very amiable people
Preach brother. I could not agree more on your observations. I'm in my mid 50's and I wish I had this kind of wisdom in my 20's. It's never too late before we're 10 feet under, so I have long since adapted a different way of life/work relations. If I don't like what I do - I simply walk away. To most people (including my very own coworkers) this attitude is terrifying to them, some see it as horrendeously arrogant, others sees is as frightening, and most can't afford it because of their lifestyle or families. In the end we all have made our choices. To those who read this and think the same traditional everyday people (like most) do, I will do some explaining how I achieved this and what the results are. The results are better than one could imagine. I know for a fact that a lot of people over 40 are scared of the prospects of going against their bosses, of taking total control over their own lives. But imagine this - you're in your own video that is the book written about your life. It's not done yet, it's not even written yet, all the pages from the middle and up are blank pages. What they contain - is up to you. So what I do - is that I simply think to myself, I can get fired from my job and I will easily get another, and I'll pick what I like. How? A lot of people over 40+ thinks that they're lucky to have ANY job at that age, basically they blame ageism. But I got news for you - ageism is a thing, yes, but it's got nothing to do with you because YOU are IN control of your life, or you give that control away to others. You need to enjoy the very existence of your life in order to do this, you start by writing down the things you want to do, then a masterplan how to achieve this, then a plan-b. You compromise on nothing, you take on only the jobs you want - don't wait for them to write back to you, call, contact them, and then go on checking up on them until you got the dream job of your life, most applicants don't do this, and most companies will be surprised on just how tenacious you are - and you'll most likely land the job. It doesn't stop there, once you got the job - be ambitious about your dreams, listen a lot, be a problem solver, dare to break all rules, and move forward like an unstoppable truck - but be prepared to deliver on your promises. If you found a job you REALLY LIKE - then this won't even be an issue, because you're living the fun that is your life, to achieve things, to make a difference. Also, some side-tip. Stop consuming the latest and greatest, buy a high-end phone that is 1-2 years old, they're still amazing, you still get way better stuff than a low-end phone from today, and you save about 2/3's of the cost + you don't take up a payment plan for it, go vimla, hallon or similar and be free. Also - purchase second-hand furniture, get rid of all silly subscriptions you don't need. Always bargain when you buy something. Be frugal without being frugal on your life. People will start wondering why you got so much, and money to spare all the time. In-between jobs - you fix and repair stuff, on your house, your stuff, anything. Because that's money (and control) directly into your life. They can't tax that! Once you figure out that you're actually in total control of your life - you won't look back.
Great points, thank you for sharing! Having the psychological and practical ability to quit your job if you need to is extremely powerful. That ability can start shiifting various power balances around.
So not to shit on your points or something but how much do you need to worry about housing? The lifestyle you describe is possible for me but only when I have low cost housing available
Thank you for that. I recently have had a 180 change in my life and I feel lost but this comment helped. I appreciate you and you are truly a wonderful soul
Another factor that effects the modern day work ethic emerged from the Factory School Model, induced in 19th century. It was initially designed to produce a large scale of obedient factory workers to reach demand for the industrial revolution but has since become a foundation for current education systems.
This! I've said this so many times but even as a teenager, I could understand that the Factory School Model of education doesn't provide us with skills or the ability to learn and become better in order to function as adults but was designed to unnaturally force young kids to sit still like adult workers and cram more information than they could retain only for them to forget and make an effort to keep practicing to remember it to pass exams. It's an inherently wrong approach to learning. The fact that a tiny minority of people manage to succeed later in life is explained away as the success of the system when they didn't succeed because of it but despite it with many additional privileges that many don't have. Instead of examining the inherent inadequacy of this system, it's seen as the perfectly acceptable status quo so it continues. Even many non European countries in the postcolonial world have been forced into it because if they don't, their education isn't held in value by the Americans, Canadian, Europeans etc.
Every day when my alarm clock goes off at 5am and I get up to begin my routine, I remind myself, "only be enduring the tedium of a scheduled life can you alleviate the worry for you economy and status".
My friend, the protestant work ethic has never worked for the majority of people, it was always there to benefit those who wield the most control over society. Be it politicians or business owners or clerics. To be a good protestant is to be a good, willing slave.
"Protestant work ethics" is just an excuse for godless capitalists to exploit the good, obedient people. Pretty ironic that most (if not all) of CEOs are never a religious person themselves.
Are you familiar with the idea that we are not saved by works but by faith?. Thats a protestant idea. Working hard does not get you to heaven for protestants.
After I graduated and up until I had kids. I would work for about two or three years. Then quit, take a year off and live of my savings. Then I would take a new job and repeat the process. You can never imagine how many people have rolled their eyes at this way of living. You are supposed to work, even if you don't need to work.
Working to be productive, does produce economic value, which ultimately improves everyone's lives, is not a bad thing. That being said, your job shouldn't be taking 12 hours of your day and people like pregnant or nursing women need special consideration. The best HR can come up with so far, is flexible work schedules and from home work. While doing meaningful work should be a top priority, the most important are health and relationships.
You can decide to not work but the realities of life will punish you for it. If we want to eat, live in a house etc. we are spending resources. There is no way around that. If you don't provide resources but continue to use them, it's obvious that someone else has provided them for you by working in your place. That's not right either.
@@6kle82 The problem with your reasoning is that it assumes that everyone needs to work in order to have those things, but that couldn't be further from the truth, as mechanization/automation has drastically changed the amount of work that we need to do in order to survive, or even thrive. "If you don't provide resources but continue to use them, it's obvious that someone else has provided them for you by working in your place. That's not right either." Why not? If they're awarded more resources than you for their trouble, why would that be a problem?
The error many people also make is that their spending is going up when getting raises or better paying jobs. Why spend so much on things you dont need? Almost anything can be bought except time, Id rather just work less and spend more time with my family and hobbies. So I definitely did my best to get a decently payed job, but only to work as little as I need.
BINGO! You become a slave to materialism like this. Let’s all make more money yes! But let’s remember to live humbly and with just what we need. We can enjoy our hard work too but don’t become a slave to it
And this is EXACTLY what drives inflation the way humans spend as soon as they get a raise!😢 JUST IMAGINE what would happen if people got raises and focused on flourishing/optimisation inst3ad of keeping up with Joneses. 😢
I fell into the sweatshop work ethic for a time, because it seemed to be the logical extension of the work ethic that earned me my technical skills. As a result, I got burned out, and part of my recovery was unlearning the sweatshop mindset. Now, I only want enough, and I want an "enough" that is self-sustaining, so I never stop having enough. It's more important to me now that I get my enough by making a positive difference in the world.
This "Protestant Work-ethic" unfortunately also entered schools decades ago, where teachers and caregivers give you a hard time, publicly shame you, psychologically blackmail or humiliate you, if you are happy with doing the bare minimum for a 6/10, because you're not interested in a subject. I worked so hard to please my surroundings (incl. family) and get high marks all the time, that it gave me a burn-out right at the start of my working life age 30 :S I was told over and over again "why are you doing nothing, don't you have work to do?!" (when I was resting, taking a break, drawing, taking a nap etc. even though my school results were fine). It made me feel like I every form of resting or doing something fun for myself is "LAZY!!!" and that I was a bad person for it, even though my results were more than ok, but they zeroed in on the act of "resting" like it was a huge trigger for them or something. I graduated long ago, but I don't have the idea that it has improved since in schools :S
@@The66-tqst it's rather complex in it's implications and there was some good that came out of it. But overall the trajectory of western civilization was changed forever and I wouldn't say it was for the better.
no es exactamente así... www.google.com/search?q=etimologia+negocio&oq=etimologia+negocio&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDU1NDNqMGo3qAIPsAIB&client=ms-android-sanmu&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
As salaried worker I earned 1,6k€/month and worked 40h/week. As self employed, I work about 60h/week and I gain about 600€/month. But I could never go back to work as salaried worker. I earned more money and worked less hours, but those 40h each week were tedious and lifeless. Now, my 60h of "work" each week feel amazing, as I am doing what I really love. I had never felt happier, even if some months I struggle filling my fridge.
Imo the basic work ethic returns to us when we play games: No one keeps grinding in a game once they have what they want. I‘d be interested to know how a 40 hr work week affects health both mentally & physically
I'm so glad I only have to work for 8 months a year to obtain what I want in life. Sometimes people try to guilt me into working more, and I usually give them consideration for all of five seconds before thinking of all the free time I would be missing out on. I quite literally do what you describe in this video, working until I don't have to anymore, then I quit for a time, usually to travel, then get started working all over again. I have a 150 day work season (July-November) and a 90 day work season (January-March), and both are really easy to get through because they are so short.
@@pavkata97 I don't know why UA-cam didn't notify me about the reply a month ago (great job YT). I carry mail for 5 months and shovel snow for 3 months. It won't work for everyone obviously because it depends on climate.
The entire spectrum of political parties keep saying "jobs" because they know they're speaking to people who are underemployed, underpaid, and have no safety net for healthcare, retirement, end of life care. The voters are lead to believe that "jobs" is somehow a salvation, in a era of escalating automation, and overseas bids. Instead of promising a safety net, and universal abundance in a post-work world; in a post- scarcity world.
I think it's also because most Western countries at least have their governments depending on income tax for revenue. That relies on people having income, which is usually linked to a job. That means that to the politician, it's better to have two people doing a job that one person could do with the right tools and automation. The problem, of course, is that in a capitalist society automation is driven by capitalists who seek to reduce the cost of labor. So when the capitalists buys a machine that lets one worker do the work three used to do, they fire two workers, maybe give the remaining one a small raise, and pocket the difference. So now we have one wage-earner (tax-payer) and two unemployed people (who need to get unemployment benefits and such, and are thus a *cost* to the government rather than a source of revenue). It would be better to keep all three employed 1/3 of the time. But of course, that's no incentive to the capitalist to buy the machine in the first place.
Another great video and topic. As a buiness owner and my own boss I can really relate. The protestant work etich is something that is schooled into our system by society from a childs age. But for What and for Who? The question is if We are the slaves? I wish you a merry christmas
So what principle is guiding you now? What are you replacing the Protestant work ethic with? Great topic, would love to see more around work, work ethic and jobs.
im not who youre asking, but ... the traditional work ethic, i suppose? work as much as needed and no more. since thats what was talked about, thats what i kinda assumed anyway. but yeah, would love to see more abt implementing that :)
@@Slipping_thru_the_Seams Still, with the material abundance that we have today, we would barely need to work if we were to adopt the traditional work ethic, don’t you think? Wouldn’t that be unhealthy also? Maybe that’s my inner protestant work ethic speaking: even though I’m catholic lol.
@joaolira3217 i dont think it would be unhealthy :) i guess it kind of depends on how you define work, play and art; but i think if we do just enough of what we Have To Do, and then spend the rest of our time doing what we want, motivated by pursuing whats fun and interesting, we will incidentally also end up doing useful things, (though not always, but anyway that shouldnt be the focus obviously) and it will be mentally stimulating and relaxing, when the pressure of "Have To" isnt there. (Universal Basic Income could help a lot w this.) also i rewatched the video because of this comment chain, and i think the ending of the video was meant to make each of us think about what to replace it with. it doesn't necessarily have to be some framework that already exists. we could come up with some new and more appropriate-to-modern-context way of balancing how we spend our time and efforts. like, we can be more specific about what's important. personally, i think the important part of life is whatever i feel interested in at the moment, lol. especially like, learning about things that are tightly woven into my life. but ultimately i can't be maximising for any one value. balance has to always be kept in mind, everything in moderation. its a cliche but its all about Being Present and assessing-as-you-go. i think the big problem with how the protestant work ethic has seeped into our lives is that we lose our vigilance abt determining our own lives, and just trust that work=good. thats a dead way of thinking.
Seems like that was partially answered in the video, right? There's nothing wrong with a simple life of contented contemplation. We don't have to be lazy, but we also don't have to help the show runners move a million miles an hour just to create the next thing just so they can 1) weaponize it, 2) use it to obsolete their current workforce, or 3) produce junk no one needs. And... If the people who can afford to take it easy *do* take it easy, it eases the hustle on the people who are less well off. The irony of all of this is that it was the entire purpose of "observing the sabbath." Sad that the forgetting of and twisting of it was based off of a reformation along the same branch of religion that recognized the necessity of it in the first place.
The protestant reformation and the "work ethic" associated, being if you work hard and make constructive use of your time you are therefore worthy of heaven and God's approval, has A LOT to answer for. Especially with workaholics and perfectionist trying to win love acceptance and approval from others (conscious or unconscious) by working themselves to the ground.
Underlying the question „why work?” is the question “why live?”. One is encouraged to adopt cultural norms, without considering this latter question; hence people readily become functions within a machine. This operates within a regime controlled by a specific form of money (debt-based, compound-interest linked, allied to Capital possession). It automatically demands exponential, unsustainable growth and debt whilst concentrating around quasi-capital, with resultant social and environmental costs. That’s before one even gets into the questionable finance, trade and marketing practices which exacerbate the situation. Driving people apart also helps to create more customers for things which would otherwise be shared. I answer the “why live?” question with “Life is a chance a) to have enjoyable experiences and b) to help other people have enjoyable experiences. If it ceases to be that, I’m off to self-compost. Attached to “b” is my arrogance that perhaps I’m worth more alive than dead; obviously a questionable point.
I was struck by a chronic illness 5 years ago which rendered me unable to work. I am fortunate enough that my husband earns enough to support our family. We aren’t rich but perfectly comfortable. We have all we need. However, the level of guilt I have about not being able to work has is huge. I’m in my 50s and spend a lot of time beating myself up for acquiring something completely beyond my control. This seems to be reinforced by the question “what do you do?” when I meet someone new. I stumble for words trying to justify why I am unable to work. I inadvertently feed myself into the “deserving poor” narrative. I believe in the idea of working to gain what you need to survive and the rest of your time is your own. Applying it to myself however seems trickier.
Martin Luther isn't really to blame for the modern work ethic. He was just one guy who held an opinion on work being a calling. He was not the first nor the last to say such things. Nothing really changed in terms of work ethic until centuries after his death. The real genesis of the modern work ethic begins with the Industrial revolution when machines started to compete with human labor. It up ended the social contract of traditional labor and replaced it with a "worse deal" where humans were told to keep up with the machines or else lose their livelihoods.
You should also take into account economics, one hour of a modern man costs much more than an hour of any premodern man. You have to work more just to survive. Constant “progress” leads to continuous inflation, debts..
Having a calling is one thing but turning it into a way to make a living is another. I've been an active musician in my local scene for over 40 years. I always thought that was my calling but I've never made more that a couple thousand dollars a year. Even with the ability to make money online now that hasn't changed the situation much compared to previous decades. There is so much saturation that we're all fighting for time slots for gigs. If I make a few hundred now per year off of recorded music, gigs and merch that's considered a success.
I have thought since my school days despite it being a "Catholic Grammar school That the term The "Reformation" was in fact a spelling mistake. There was an "R" where there should have been a "D". Now 72 years old I am totally convinced and there seem to be others who are coming round to the idea. P.S. I also think the term "The Enlightenment " is an Oxymoron.
I work way too much… I’ve spent my 20’s and 30’s working 80-100 hour weeks… I’m now in my early forties, and I’m trying like hell to get my time back. The wife and I bought a food truck and we are on year four with it. It’s almost to the point where we can take comfortably the winter off with our earnings from the summer.
Another very important and correct video. In this context, it is worth looking for videos on the topic “Human Brain and Default Network / DFN”. The DFN becomes active when we are doing nothing and we are only just learning that it is immensely important, also for our mental health, but not only.
One thing I don't understand in people is how some people sneer at people who don't want to work 10 hours a day plus 2 hours commuting per day. Personally I'd probably work better with 4-6 hours per day and then rest.
@@stephbutler8704absolute bulls--t. Where are your citations and was it a sample of a 100 participants? Productive people will always be more productive then less productive people. No artificial measure will change this. It's nature which is reality.
If you ever find out that "Something better " do let us know because I am tired of the 'grind'. Years and years of it, just to be able to live, to do more of it.
I studied electrical engineering and saw a lot of companies from the inside over the years and the reason we don't automate most jobs (which we could with some effort) is that labor is too cheap and inequality too high. It might sound kinda weird saying labor is too cheap at first. For average people labor is extremely expensive, but for the big companies often owned by extremely rich individuals labor is actually way cheaper than automating even basic tasks, just because their wealth is so enormous compared to what average people have. So innovation is kinda stuck and only done if it basically comes for free or the competition has innovated. So also here inequality is the main cause of the problem. It does go much deeper than this short explanation, but I guess youtube comments do have a character limit for a reason ; )
As someone whose day-to-day is basically completely oriented around automating stuff, I think this theory is somewhat correct but also not the entire picture. On the contrary, we simply have too many complex systems to automate -- nothing could change in the business I work for and I'd have 2~3 years of projects in my backlog for things to automate, and yet in reality as the business evolves and other parts of it get modernized and automated, even more things get put into the backlog and what was modern yesterday is tomorrow's technical debt. Pick any industry, and as a consumer one might take for granted that stuff "just works" - orders get fulfilled, shelves get stocked, services get activated, stuff gets shipped, appointments get kept, etc - but actually there are often thousands of background processes at play, often each with their own myriad of edge cases and sub-processes to handle the fallout of any of those steps going sideways. There is a huge amount of investment into automating all of this stuff, but the technical skillset needed to build automation is in short supply.
@@timothymiron3620 Imagine though wages were 4x as high, there would be a lot more pressure on businesses to find simpler processes. Plus if people had more time to reskill, because they were a lot richer, there could be a lot more people working on automation. Right now we have a large part of the workforce which cannot get into these jobs simply because it is not worth it to educate them, just because they come from poorer backgrounds (it is absolutely not efficient, that in germany for example most people at universities have academics as parents).
@@timothymiron3620 And I somewhat disagree that automation skillsets are in short supply, they are right were the market demand is. Otherwise big tech companies would never have done massive layoffs.
@@pericvlor I don't think big tech layoffs say much about the availability of automation skills in the overall economy. Big Tech is one place where there is _not_ a scarcity of this type of skillset. If anything, big tech layoffs are more related to misallocation / over concentration, than serving as any proof of abundance in the economy writ large. I also don't think its realistic to assume that some large portion of the population would take up automation-related vocations if given the choice. It is already the case that the free market sees engineering type roles of all sorts command relatively higher compensation than many other aspects of the economy. There's also the problem of much of the work needed requiring not only engineering skills but also deep and often boutique domain knowledge, and the nature of many types of projects being not conductive to being finished any faster by simply throwing more people at them. The book 'the mythical man month' comes to mind here. Anyways, I think its a relatively nuanced problem. I do agree with you that to some degree low wages disincentivize the type of step-change investment in automation that would otherwise be pursued, but I work at a company that has at least one single identifiable area of the business that costs over $2 billion/year to operate and has for the past 5+ years thrown similar amounts of money at automating as much of it as possible, but as mentioned the level of complexity that shows up when we try to have 'systems' interface with the messy 'real world' means that much of it remains (for now) needing humans in the loop at the fringes. Artificial Intelligence will unlock huge swaths of this backlog, and to that end the next 3~5 years are going to be crazy, but that's a separate rant.
You've communicated this concept so well. I have debated with a friend about the purpose of work a few times and they are strong believers in the Protestant work ethic. I am going to send this to them and maybe it'll help them think outside of that norm a little more, because what I've said never gets through lol.
It’s horses for courses. Some people (actually most people) need work. They need something to put their effort and energy into. I find these people usually don’t have any other passions or interests that they can throw themselves into. So work is good for them.
@@koyha5266 Do you work long shifts? What country? I also worked at a warehouse once, much of the time we had nothing to do so I spent most of my work days reading books and drinking tea to keep warm in the cold warehouse.
Part of the problem is our expectations about what we "need" to live a comfortable life. Think about it: our ancestors didn't need to earn money to buy a TV or pay the electric bill. They only bought the absolute basics. If we were prepared to live at the same standard of living our ancestors did it would cost far less.
"pay the electric bill" I pay ~30 EUR per month for the electric bill that is ~2h of work; that is much less time than I would need to collect wood, build fires, clean out the ash etc. to cook for a full month only an example - but in that regards it is easier and less work to pay for the electric bill than to accept the living standard of our ancesters
They had community and stable housing though, and more free time, which are prohibitively expensive now. TV and similar lixuries are not the reason why we work extra as much as cheqp fixes tot hw.more expensivw things we have lost
@ jt1559 That’s a valid point. What’s driving a huge part of the struggle are the contributions one has to deliver to the rentier class of landowners and owners of other natural resources. Economical theorist Silvio Gesell advocated a path between capitalism and communism. - You own what you build or grow on the land, but never the land itself. Land should be owned by the community and be for lease only.
I'm all for working and fulfilling a personal calling. However, work isn't just what one does for money. Work is caring for yourself, your family, friends, and your community. Praying, listening, contemplating, studying, exercising, and being present all take energy and, therefore, are a form of work. Meaningful work. I love that you mentioned Erich Fromm. One of my favorite books is "To Have or to Be." We need to go from a having culture to a being culture.
One of my ex pupils gave me a book, "How to be Lazy", and it delves into the history of how people used to live, and how we've been conned into working too much. Scientists looked at hunter gatherer societies and discovered that they worked far less than most modern people do.
The dark side of hunter gatherer existence was that there was no private property and no way of keeping any surplus even if you choose to work long hours and amass a surplus for leaner times. Forward planning and storing up a food surplus for winter only came with agriculture and this required a system of organised laws and customs designed to prevent casual theft of goods stored for future use by a given community.
Brilliantly put together. That well-known Simon Sinek talk is really put into its proper context. Another reason why people work so much is fear. With all the wars and raising inflation etc etc, as we've become future-oriented because of our protestant mindset, we worry about retirement well before, some people even in their 20s.ogiiiri Living to contemplate our place in the universe...what a lovely quote of Aristotle. This video really is enlightening, thank you.
Of course we should work and keep our body's moving for the mind and body but this working a dead end job so someone else makes all the money is horseshit and I think that's one of the main reasons why people aren't working today
Yes it's both the lack of real purpose, often terrible work deals with low salaries and too long hours, and that just the type of jobs most people do nowadays are unnatural and unhealthy both physically and mentally thats the issue. Humans were made for working on a farm (the old fashioned way preferably) or hunting or otherwise with nature. Not saying everyone should do that. But its something people are much better suited to do and most people would be in a much more harmonious state. We need both the exercise and contact with nature and maybe the sense of actually producing something tangible
What's crazy about that is that almost every problem modern society faces, like severe inequality in the distribution of wealth, ecological problems and climate change etc. comes down to one thing: the capitalistic mindset we get infused the moment we are born. It's all interconnected. We work too much, produce too much, consume too much, and therefore we need more resources than earth can reproduce. I always found it mind boggling that it is about creating jobs for the sake of it. It's not about how much work has to be done. There is no upper limit. The more the better. And it's paradox because the alleged purpose of people working so much is so they can enjoy life. But for most of us this ends in working too much and living too little. I think the most important thing is realizing that many of those needs we want to satisfy and that motivate us to work more are created by others so they themselves can sell more, therefore work, produce and earn more, just in order for them to satisfy their own needs that again were created by others through marketing and were then reproduced within society. The imagination of what makes a good live needs to shift in order for real change to arise.
Most of us are not classed as slaves but we are in a system of servitude. Peoples money can be spent on pointless consumerism but most goes to basic living requirements of rent/morgage. Taxes, utility bills. A car so that we can get to and from our place servitude to make money so we can pay pur bills and taxes with just enough food so we can stay alive to keep doing this cycle of siht.
I read years ago Max Weber's The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and I have become convinced it hit the bull's eye. And yet, through my adult life I have explained it to many Protestants. All wave it away as, "That's just your opinion," or, "That's just his opinion." I'm Catholic and I've never convinced any Protestants of anything. I can't reason with them. Historical explanations mean nothing to them. Bible quotes, logic, all bounces off them - and they all can't agree with other Protestants. Each denomination believes it is the true church. I have always been frustrated living in the World Headquarters of Protestantism, the United States. Materially we've had it good, but intellectually we are a mess.
Great work; The practicality of these views can vary based on individual perspectives and cultural contexts. Weber’s emphasis on the Protestant work ethic has been associated with the rise of capitalism and economic success in certain regions. However, Aristotle’s focus on eudaimonia may resonate more with those who prioritize overall well being and virtue. We must ask ourselves, when contemplating either perspective what constitutes a sense of happiness? Is it practical? In the end, My personal perspective is we are luring to be productive, in turn, this provides us fulfillment. By being productive, we benefit someone else, even if a selfish motive lies between the action and duty. On the behalf of our production, we in turn provide utility to someone else; such as this lovely video. Therefore, utilitarianism may be at the root of the people you mentioned, but then again what do I know, just speculating. Thanks for the video and this thought, Merry Christmas! 🎁
Thanks for interesting thoughts! I agree with you that all of us want to feel useful. There is a risk that we in today's labour society, mainly value our "usefulness" in the labour market (what we do as employees or entrepreneurs) while the usefulness we have in our extended families, in our neighborhood, in our churches, in our sports organizations etc. aren't viewed as "valuable" in quite the same way. Merry Christmas my friend!
Don't forget to blame him (and John Calvin) for the fact that most of us can read and write, too. We might be working less if 80% of us were illiterate, but we would be getting paid WAY less. Our modern elites would be delighted!
In praise of idleness is an essay by bertrand Russell, i am adherant to the traditional work ethic but i suppose i have done 80 hour working weeks before.
I wish I could make enough in 2 hours of work to survive the rest of the week. I would retire right now if I could and just ponder my place in the universe.
I was once an employed lawyer and have been a self-employed lawyer for almost three decades. Unlike many of my colleagues, I have always preferred to work little and dedicate a lot of attention to the clients who hire me, whether their cases are small or large. Working less is important to me because I need time to read and dedicate myself to another activity that I enjoy, maintaining a blog on various subjects and, of course, politics. I have not earned as much money as my colleagues, but I have certainly read and commented on more books and have even managed to interfere in some way in the political life of my country (something that arouses a certain jealousy in those who limit themselves to earning money but have not conquered the space that I have created for myself). Motivation for work is important. The fact that one of my jobs is unpaid is not a problem, because when work and pleasure meet, the Lutheran self-torture disguised as a work ethic ceases to exist.
I dreamed of a perfect society when I was 10-12 and it was something similar to this. You would live in a comunity and basically get everything for free provided that you work for a few hours every day to make it possible to keep things as they are. You could work for more in order to get money and do other things but it would not be required. It is more complex but people said I did not want that and that it sounded like prisson. I later was in prisson for a few months and I swear that it was the best months in my life. I often say that if I didn't need to do crime to get to prisson I would like to live there for the rest of my life.
Working to live has been replaced by living to work because of the convergence of several considerations, and the resulting intersection between a few social and moral metrics. Firstly, we attach our own self worth, and our perception of our worth in other people's minds, by how much we produce. However, individual work output and its actual worth is not measured the same way from one person to the next, nor the same way individually and collectively. Working only enough to meet our individual living needs is often deemed as selfish or parasitical because our own worth in society is measured by how much more we each contribute to it, in excess of our own personal needs, while conveniently white-washing over the fact that the very society we're part of, and seek acceptance from, also all too readily allows a small portion of it to unfairly gain a grossly disproportionate portion of the wealth that's generated by the resulting collective production surplus. The other factor that shapes our society, its welfare and its attitude towards work, is that the same wealthy minority is also benefiting from a disproportionately large amount of power and control it has over the rest of our society, to maintain its separation from the same hardships faced by the rest of us, as well as maintain its ability to exert that same large amount of power and control. This particular aspect is also why our society doesn't allow individual work output to be measured more equitably, or for that matter, for the resulting wealth to be distributed more equitably.
I really feel like people are no longer cultivated in appropriate ways, rather we are forced onto procrustean beds for companies to profit off of, but everything just winds up artificially inflating asset prices in a bubble because productivity is stalling for a lot of varied reasons. I think we perfected maximizing outputs but we’ve only started scratching the surface of figuring out how to manage inputs. The idea that if enough is good than more would be awesome seems to not work out the majority of the time.
A DC area apartment is 50k today, on the higher end For 2 bed bath 25k per person 5k for groceries and an unlimited bus pass yearly 30k Just 100k in tqqq etf would have been enough capital gains for retirement over the last decade Most Americans can get 100k within a year or two, between hard work and some gifts received from older relatives. That we work beyond these 2 years or so, is obviously representative of cultural pressures ❤😢❤😢❤
A great book to read is ‘ the good life’ by Helen and Scott nearing.. a good way of finding a balance between modern life and human creative tendencies
Interestingly, I see creatives working according to the older ethics. They tend to set up projects, some of them for income, others for their own desires
Suddenly I now understand why so many teachers quit after a short number of years. And no wonder the training, the pgde program that I am enrolled in, to become one, is so painful too .
What you invest in these productions is truly amazing and as a 60 yo life-long student of History, Politics a.o. I've yet to find one I don't agree with. Thx.
A lot of people see my hard working ethics and pressure me to pursue "real jobs" for "future security". But I always refuse because I have already observed the people working full time at my place. They spend 9 hours a day, 26 days a month with the base salary that is slightly higher than my part time rate. Yes, for these people, they need this job because all they can think of is working. For me, I live frugily and I have a very inconsistent working hour. There are weeks I can work 60-70 hours. There are weeks I only work around 20-30 weeks. And during those off time, I usually spend time for my actual hobby which is learning extra language and drawing. I don't even plan to use these skills for jobs because I damn know working the job with my appropriate skills will kill my passion for these in the 1st place. I work part time because I can hop between places and make new friends. Plus I don't like a consistent schedule. I work to live not live to work. Maybe some day I will find a job that I can actually enjoy and work consistently. But for now, I want to feel like Iiving and able to have enough to sustain myself
These ideals of working less for more(for yourself) seem appealing but can only be applied to white collar jobs and the capitals(business owners, employers etc.). Because for those that belongs to these 2 categories, you can exploit technologies and other people to replicate the value you create by your own effort. How can this apply to those who work in blue collar job? When their only mean of creating value is skills + manual labor + experience.
I think about this a lot. It seems like we invent a lot of technology now that is supposed to make our lives easier. While this tech does make our lives easier in some cases, it mostly just makes our lives more productive because don't adjust our work hours when we can all of a sudden do more in a day. This in turn makes the economy move even faster and and the same goes for the destruction of the planet. I wish we could find a balance. Say this is what we need as a society to function and live a happy life. We all work towards achieving those goals then we could just relax.
A lot of heroic Catholic Saints, Kings, craftsmen, etc., worked incredibly hard, but the philosophy behind it was totally different from the Protestant work ethic. Ideally (people were flawed of course), if people worked above and beyond what was needed, it was more for the love of God and the poor, their craft, or their country. It was for an ideal, more than just for money. People in the "merchant class (i.e., businessmen in modern terms)" did not have the high status rich people do now. If they worked hard only to amass wealth, it was considered miserly and dishonorable. Great work presenting these ideas!
For myself,, I think Calvin and Luther were onto a basic human need and desire. However, some translate success into excess, excess hours, excess money, excess stuff... It is joy to enjoy the success of our work. But we need to be able to think on the nature of our goals for success, and know that in the end we die.
its about mindset and education: as dad always said: "if you work fulltime and you cant save(without troubles) half of it, you doing something wrong" when I wanted to buy rims for my car for ~1k at ~20y: "if u have money for that stuff, u gonna pay rent at home" when wanted to invest 20k in "wealthmanagement": u gonna pay rent. I also had to maintain a balance of at least 1k on my bank account. And when the money starts to pile up, some ppl(like me) really start living frugally. Who cares about 300$ saved? Its 30k now, when we have 40? U live like you live, independent of your income(not for quality food, health, family)
Exercise, grow a garden, write a book, create a song, build a house, mow your lawn, volunteer, clean something, build something, invent something, throw a party, go learn a new skill, play chess, learn an instrument, learn to sing, make a tool, improve something better, redesign things better, teach kids, teach people, help old people, help someone, save abandoned pets, hike, start a business, sell something, sleep, rest, binge watch whatever you like, go gamble, listen to lectures, help a friend, be a friend, talk to your neighbor, talk to your parents and siblings, cook, hunt, breed livestock, lick a lollipop... I have an infinite list of things for you to do.
“ Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. - Ephesians 4:28. “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. - Ecclesiastes 9:10 But sure, blame Luther. Delighted to hear that Luther has had such a massive impact, even on Catholics.
Protestant here. I think there is a massive difference between the work ethic that Luther an Calvin espoused and the post-industrial scheduled tedium that we have in the modern secular world. The protestant work ethic is right, in that we each have a calling, and we are placed in this world to serve God and other people. We are not here for ourselves. However "serving God and other people" is so much wider than just working for money. It is about taking responsibility for what you have been given, and using that to glorify God to the best of your ability. This includes non-paid material things, like taking care of your living space, and also non-material things like spending time with family and friends. Even enjoying the fruit of your labor is a very protestant thing to do. Also, the idea of working hard is way older than Protestantism. In fact, I would argue that Protestantism was a fundamentalist movement, trying to get back to what Christianity was originally supposed to mean, and trying to be as close to the Bible as possible. The Bible is full of the importance of hard work. I mean look at the 4th commandment (Work for 6 days, rest for 1) and look at how much hard work is praised by the book of Proverbs.
It is a difference if you work on your own field /own vinyard or as a wage slave for someone else. We use/Bible uses the same word "work" but actually we should have 2 different words for that.
@sheridansherr8974 On the other hand, the New Testament encourages Christian slaves to work heartily. So even as a wage slave, you should work hard. However, this needs to also be seen in the larger context of the New Testament, where love is set as the driving factor for human relationships. So being a hard working wage slave is a way for a Christian worker to love their boss. However, the Christian worker needs to take care to not neglect his love towards his family and other people and things that God gave him.
Profit motive work ethic is not compatible with traditional religion and it is heresy to claim it is "divine" or messianic. You cannot put profit motive over religion and yet claim to follow it when you clearly have stated you follow the former. Religion does not need modernising or being changed to fit Enlightenment principles. Either follow Orthodoxy or leave and make your own religion.
I don't belong to any religion, but I think the kind of protestant work ethic you describe makes a lot more sense and is actually meaningful and healthy. Work is not just what makes money, and sometimes what doesnt make money could be more meaningful than something that does. Different people also have different callings in life, and that is different from the job society forces you into. People also need rest and taking the neccesary time to rest is not the same as being lazy in my opinion
@@zakosist Yes. Thanks for the constructive conversation. Christianity is an easily-misunderstood religion, and it begs for honest exploration and intellectual effort by those who are inclined to such things. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts. Even in this video's comments section, someone said that "to be a good protestant is to be a good willing slave." In a way this is true. If our "slavery" adheres to the the principles of glorifying God and loving our neighbors, good protestants will be good and willing slaves. If our "slavery" denies either one of those principles, you will find good protestants to be very unwilling slaves indeed.
I think this work ethic is more to do with industrialisation and in the UK giving public land to private owners (enclosure acts) so we have no choice but to work for other peoples financial gain just to survive. This entrapment is further extended by the inflated price of housing, a result of inequality and greed.
Absolutely. We live in a huge complex system that is optional. In the 1700s we took a huge lumbering mechanical coal driven lurch to the right and off the path we were on. We have a choice now. There are other ways in which humanity could exist, thrive and co-operate. We have lost sight of it but it is there.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. So, the golden standard of life ought to be Somewhere in between.
Every time you post I’m blown away by the conciseness of your message and the quality of your production - KEEP THESE VIDEOS UP!!!
Thanks! :)
Thank god you didn’t end up was a typical lawyer:))
„There are people, and there are laywers“
First time you showed up in my feed was with on the myth of political spectrum… and was immediately hooked! Love your videos. And this comment is very on point, you do (perhaps bc of history as being lawyer?) have a way of distilling difficult concepts and presenting concise arguments and points in your essays. Keep yup the great videos. Additionally, I love how you scrutinize potential sponsors, and don’t just team up with companies obviously trying to exploit you tubers and their fans to hock their often questionable, at best, offerings.
I live in Brazil and although I haven't read it in any academic source it seems obvious that we are in a transition from the Catholic(I don't know if we are still the country with the largest absolute number of Catholics) to the Protestant work ethic. It is noticeable how people are more exhausted by working more, feeling embarrassed if they are not super productive and even children are developing psychiatric illnesses earlier. Currently, schools are already starting to pressure 8-year-old students to prepare for university selection tests. For example when I was a child in the 80s, it was normal for my parents to have time to interact and making good friends with neighbors (we moved around a lot because of my father's work) that lasted a lifetime. Today I don't have the time or energy for that to the point where I don't remember their faces. I could mention other changes, but in short, there is now an atmosphere of competition rather than collaboration, we are more anxious and society is less and less a source of support. It seems to me dangerous for a biologically extremely sociable species that work has become in practice the only concern.
You are so right. I'm tired of shaming for not being productive and efficient non stop. People are not created for work.
@sheridansherr8974 We are human before we are workers and this condition has demands that must be met. I wish you the best.
I don't think it is Protestant work ethics. It sounds more similar to capitalism work ethics. Protestant work ethics connect work to service to God and others' well being. I feel sorry for those over burdened children.
Please stay Catholic, it is the Church Jesus created
I am Brazilian too, from Santa Catarina, and I totally agree with this. My grandpa always complained about Brazilians, and latinos in general, being lazy stupid people while anglo germans are the people with real culture, work ethics and industriousness, but I never realized how wrong that observation was until I went to study in the United States, and I saw with my own eyes how the American protestant work ethic is an enormous factory of worker zombies while I started to remember how lively we Brazilians are as a people, even now though lesser than before. Of course there are many exceptions, and I don’t want to generalize, the midwest of America for example is a very nice place with very amiable people
Preach brother. I could not agree more on your observations. I'm in my mid 50's and I wish I had this kind of wisdom in my 20's. It's never too late before we're 10 feet under, so I have long since adapted a different way of life/work relations. If I don't like what I do - I simply walk away. To most people (including my very own coworkers) this attitude is terrifying to them, some see it as horrendeously arrogant, others sees is as frightening, and most can't afford it because of their lifestyle or families. In the end we all have made our choices.
To those who read this and think the same traditional everyday people (like most) do, I will do some explaining how I achieved this and what the results are. The results are better than one could imagine. I know for a fact that a lot of people over 40 are scared of the prospects of going against their bosses, of taking total control over their own lives. But imagine this - you're in your own video that is the book written about your life. It's not done yet, it's not even written yet, all the pages from the middle and up are blank pages. What they contain - is up to you.
So what I do - is that I simply think to myself, I can get fired from my job and I will easily get another, and I'll pick what I like. How? A lot of people over 40+ thinks that they're lucky to have ANY job at that age, basically they blame ageism. But I got news for you - ageism is a thing, yes, but it's got nothing to do with you because YOU are IN control of your life, or you give that control away to others. You need to enjoy the very existence of your life in order to do this, you start by writing down the things you want to do, then a masterplan how to achieve this, then a plan-b. You compromise on nothing, you take on only the jobs you want - don't wait for them to write back to you, call, contact them, and then go on checking up on them until you got the dream job of your life, most applicants don't do this, and most companies will be surprised on just how tenacious you are - and you'll most likely land the job.
It doesn't stop there, once you got the job - be ambitious about your dreams, listen a lot, be a problem solver, dare to break all rules, and move forward like an unstoppable truck - but be prepared to deliver on your promises. If you found a job you REALLY LIKE - then this won't even be an issue, because you're living the fun that is your life, to achieve things, to make a difference.
Also, some side-tip. Stop consuming the latest and greatest, buy a high-end phone that is 1-2 years old, they're still amazing, you still get way better stuff than a low-end phone from today, and you save about 2/3's of the cost + you don't take up a payment plan for it, go vimla, hallon or similar and be free. Also - purchase second-hand furniture, get rid of all silly subscriptions you don't need. Always bargain when you buy something. Be frugal without being frugal on your life. People will start wondering why you got so much, and money to spare all the time.
In-between jobs - you fix and repair stuff, on your house, your stuff, anything. Because that's money (and control) directly into your life. They can't tax that!
Once you figure out that you're actually in total control of your life - you won't look back.
Great points, thank you for sharing!
Having the psychological and practical ability to quit your job if you need to is extremely powerful. That ability can start shiifting various power balances around.
So not to shit on your points or something but how much do you need to worry about housing? The lifestyle you describe is possible for me but only when I have low cost housing available
Wise words my friend. Thanks for that.
100% agree!
Thank you for that. I recently have had a 180 change in my life and I feel lost but this comment helped. I appreciate you and you are truly a wonderful soul
Another factor that effects the modern day work ethic emerged from the Factory School Model, induced in 19th century. It was initially designed to produce a large scale of obedient factory workers to reach demand for the industrial revolution but has since become a foundation for current education systems.
This! I've said this so many times but even as a teenager, I could understand that the Factory School Model of education doesn't provide us with skills or the ability to learn and become better in order to function as adults but was designed to unnaturally force young kids to sit still like adult workers and cram more information than they could retain only for them to forget and make an effort to keep practicing to remember it to pass exams. It's an inherently wrong approach to learning. The fact that a tiny minority of people manage to succeed later in life is explained away as the success of the system when they didn't succeed because of it but despite it with many additional privileges that many don't have. Instead of examining the inherent inadequacy of this system, it's seen as the perfectly acceptable status quo so it continues. Even many non European countries in the postcolonial world have been forced into it because if they don't, their education isn't held in value by the Americans, Canadian, Europeans etc.
Is this the same thing as the Prussian school system? If so, I found out the Prussian school system was based on spartan culture. Explains a lot.
"But has become a basis for modern education systems" (modern education systems are massively biased towards turning out apolitical technical workers)
@@ThePlayerOfGames Apolitical? I think you meant to say liberal.
Every day when my alarm clock goes off at 5am and I get up to begin my routine, I remind myself, "only be enduring the tedium of a scheduled life can you alleviate the worry for you economy and status".
At 5? How lazy!
Doesnt sound healthy to me, maybe you should stop caring about those things.
this is what the wage slave must tell himself to keep going...and going and going....
You can't though. They just tell you so you get up at 5am. It's just modern slavery through manipulation, rather than direct physical force.
Even if they are sad, I will carry your words for life.
My friend, the protestant work ethic has never worked for the majority of people, it was always there to benefit those who wield the most control over society. Be it politicians or business owners or clerics. To be a good protestant is to be a good, willing slave.
Interesting take!
@Synochra_true
David Graeber discussed this in Bullshit Jobs as well!
"Protestant work ethics" is just an excuse for godless capitalists to exploit the good, obedient people. Pretty ironic that most (if not all) of CEOs are never a religious person themselves.
Are you familiar with the idea that we are not saved by works but by faith?. Thats a protestant idea. Working hard does not get you to heaven for protestants.
After I graduated and up until I had kids. I would work for about two or three years. Then quit, take a year off and live of my savings. Then I would take a new job and repeat the process. You can never imagine how many people have rolled their eyes at this way of living. You are supposed to work, even if you don't need to work.
Working to be productive, does produce economic value, which ultimately improves everyone's lives, is not a bad thing.
That being said, your job shouldn't be taking 12 hours of your day and people like pregnant or nursing women need special consideration.
The best HR can come up with so far, is flexible work schedules and from home work. While doing meaningful work should be a top priority, the most important are health and relationships.
Tack, Andreas! Mer av detta! God jul på dig!
Merry late Christmas to you, too!
True freedom means having the choice to work or not. In the current "reality", few people have that choice.
True that!
Your mind controls and creates your reality. Most people have weak minds. 😮.
You can decide to not work but the realities of life will punish you for it. If we want to eat, live in a house etc. we are spending resources. There is no way around that. If you don't provide resources but continue to use them, it's obvious that someone else has provided them for you by working in your place. That's not right either.
@@6kle82 The problem with your reasoning is that it assumes that everyone needs to work in order to have those things, but that couldn't be further from the truth, as mechanization/automation has drastically changed the amount of work that we need to do in order to survive, or even thrive.
"If you don't provide resources but continue to use them, it's obvious that someone else has provided them for you by working in your place. That's not right either."
Why not? If they're awarded more resources than you for their trouble, why would that be a problem?
@@PistonAvatarGuy the extra working people are provided those extra resources from your part .
The error many people also make is that their spending is going up when getting raises or better paying jobs. Why spend so much on things you dont need? Almost anything can be bought except time, Id rather just work less and spend more time with my family and hobbies. So I definitely did my best to get a decently payed job, but only to work as little as I need.
BINGO! You become a slave to materialism like this. Let’s all make more money yes! But let’s remember to live humbly and with just what we need. We can enjoy our hard work too but don’t become a slave to it
And this is EXACTLY what drives inflation the way humans spend as soon as they get a raise!😢 JUST IMAGINE what would happen if people got raises and focused on flourishing/optimisation inst3ad of keeping up with Joneses. 😢
I fell into the sweatshop work ethic for a time, because it seemed to be the logical extension of the work ethic that earned me my technical skills. As a result, I got burned out, and part of my recovery was unlearning the sweatshop mindset. Now, I only want enough, and I want an "enough" that is self-sustaining, so I never stop having enough. It's more important to me now that I get my enough by making a positive difference in the world.
This "Protestant Work-ethic" unfortunately also entered schools decades ago, where teachers and caregivers give you a hard time, publicly shame you, psychologically blackmail or humiliate you, if you are happy with doing the bare minimum for a 6/10, because you're not interested in a subject. I worked so hard to please my surroundings (incl. family) and get high marks all the time, that it gave me a burn-out right at the start of my working life age 30 :S I was told over and over again "why are you doing nothing, don't you have work to do?!" (when I was resting, taking a break, drawing, taking a nap etc. even though my school results were fine). It made me feel like I every form of resting or doing something fun for myself is "LAZY!!!" and that I was a bad person for it, even though my results were more than ok, but they zeroed in on the act of "resting" like it was a huge trigger for them or something. I graduated long ago, but I don't have the idea that it has improved since in schools :S
Protestantism was probably the greatest tradegy in European and to a great extent world history.
How so?
Read Belloc and you will know.
@@The66-tqst it's rather complex in it's implications and there was some good that came out of it. But overall the trajectory of western civilization was changed forever and I wouldn't say it was for the better.
Causes depression in a lot of people and they self destruct.
I'm a native Spanish speaker and I never thought about about the origin of the word "negocio". Ne (no) gocio (joy). Good to know.
Never noticed that too
Ne/não(no) gocio/gosto (flavour)
no es exactamente así...
www.google.com/search?q=etimologia+negocio&oq=etimologia+negocio&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDU1NDNqMGo3qAIPsAIB&client=ms-android-sanmu&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Negocio is nec otium, no ocio. And ocio is not neccessarily joy. If you are doing nothing at all, you are being ocioso.
It's better to remember the etymology of the word trabajo. Trabajo comes from tripalium, an ancient torture device.
As salaried worker I earned 1,6k€/month and worked 40h/week.
As self employed, I work about 60h/week and I gain about 600€/month.
But I could never go back to work as salaried worker. I earned more money and worked less hours, but those 40h each week were tedious and lifeless. Now, my 60h of "work" each week feel amazing, as I am doing what I really love. I had never felt happier, even if some months I struggle filling my fridge.
Indeed. Glad you found your true calling. For me it's agriculture. I'm a trained mathematician and now I just want to farm.
@@ZaraThustra-w2n That's great. Agriculture is one of the most important and vital human profession.
@@Mendogologytrue
@@MendogologyGood for that you don't need to pay rent.
Imo the basic work ethic returns to us when we play games:
No one keeps grinding in a game once they have what they want.
I‘d be interested to know how a 40 hr work week affects health both mentally & physically
It affects all forms of health very negatively.
I don't need any scientific study to tell me that much...
Have you never had a full-time job? I have and i found them exhausting.
@ yes I do. your point being?
This... this comment was, possibly, more insightful than the whole video.
My goodness, man. I have a lot to think about, now.
I'm so glad I only have to work for 8 months a year to obtain what I want in life. Sometimes people try to guilt me into working more, and I usually give them consideration for all of five seconds before thinking of all the free time I would be missing out on. I quite literally do what you describe in this video, working until I don't have to anymore, then I quit for a time, usually to travel, then get started working all over again. I have a 150 day work season (July-November) and a 90 day work season (January-March), and both are really easy to get through because they are so short.
@@bigpuppyshoes5033 I carry mail for USPS. They have no hiring standards. If there is a position open, you'll get hired if you can walk.
What do you work bro?
@@pavkata97 I don't know why UA-cam didn't notify me about the reply a month ago (great job YT). I carry mail for 5 months and shovel snow for 3 months. It won't work for everyone obviously because it depends on climate.
I'm 41 and have felt this way most of my adult life (maybe even as a teenager). It's been a lonely existence.
Sorry to hear this and that we experience this
We should retire at 50 and enjoy life
Me too dude, good to know there are others like me out there!
39 and felt the same for two decades
@@vergonzoso4085 No way we should just work at least 140 minutes less every week
The entire spectrum of political parties keep saying "jobs" because they know they're speaking to people who are underemployed, underpaid, and have no safety net for healthcare, retirement, end of life care. The voters are lead to believe that "jobs" is somehow a salvation, in a era of escalating automation, and overseas bids. Instead of promising a safety net, and universal abundance in a post-work world; in a post- scarcity world.
Hear hear
They want you only as a slave so they can live in luxury. The only talent they have is to deceive
I think it's also because most Western countries at least have their governments depending on income tax for revenue. That relies on people having income, which is usually linked to a job. That means that to the politician, it's better to have two people doing a job that one person could do with the right tools and automation.
The problem, of course, is that in a capitalist society automation is driven by capitalists who seek to reduce the cost of labor. So when the capitalists buys a machine that lets one worker do the work three used to do, they fire two workers, maybe give the remaining one a small raise, and pocket the difference. So now we have one wage-earner (tax-payer) and two unemployed people (who need to get unemployment benefits and such, and are thus a *cost* to the government rather than a source of revenue). It would be better to keep all three employed 1/3 of the time. But of course, that's no incentive to the capitalist to buy the machine in the first place.
It's almost like you're advocating third way nationalism.
I knew exactly what my calling was when I was young. It was not to work my life away. I was forced into it.
Within the mass of trash and foolishness in social media, I appreciate your work and the content that you publish. Thank you for caring and giving.
Perfect topic selection and storytelling.
Another great video and topic. As a buiness owner and my own boss I can really relate.
The protestant work etich is something that is schooled into our system by society from a childs age. But for What and for Who? The question is if We are the slaves?
I wish you a merry christmas
So what principle is guiding you now? What are you replacing the Protestant work ethic with? Great topic, would love to see more around work, work ethic and jobs.
im not who youre asking, but ... the traditional work ethic, i suppose? work as much as needed and no more. since thats what was talked about, thats what i kinda assumed anyway. but yeah, would love to see more abt implementing that :)
I would agree, with the traditional work ethic where you work until you have what you need. Then do what you want with your time and energy.
@@Slipping_thru_the_Seams Still, with the material abundance that we have today, we would barely need to work if we were to adopt the traditional work ethic, don’t you think? Wouldn’t that be unhealthy also? Maybe that’s my inner protestant work ethic speaking: even though I’m catholic lol.
@joaolira3217 i dont think it would be unhealthy :) i guess it kind of depends on how you define work, play and art; but i think if we do just enough of what we Have To Do, and then spend the rest of our time doing what we want, motivated by pursuing whats fun and interesting, we will incidentally also end up doing useful things, (though not always, but anyway that shouldnt be the focus obviously) and it will be mentally stimulating and relaxing, when the pressure of "Have To" isnt there.
(Universal Basic Income could help a lot w this.)
also i rewatched the video because of this comment chain, and i think the ending of the video was meant to make each of us think about what to replace it with. it doesn't necessarily have to be some framework that already exists. we could come up with some new and more appropriate-to-modern-context way of balancing how we spend our time and efforts.
like, we can be more specific about what's important.
personally, i think the important part of life is whatever i feel interested in at the moment, lol. especially like, learning about things that are tightly woven into my life. but ultimately i can't be maximising for any one value. balance has to always be kept in mind, everything in moderation. its a cliche but its all about Being Present and assessing-as-you-go.
i think the big problem with how the protestant work ethic has seeped into our lives is that we lose our vigilance abt determining our own lives, and just trust that work=good. thats a dead way of thinking.
Seems like that was partially answered in the video, right? There's nothing wrong with a simple life of contented contemplation.
We don't have to be lazy, but we also don't have to help the show runners move a million miles an hour just to create the next thing just so they can 1) weaponize it, 2) use it to obsolete their current workforce, or 3) produce junk no one needs.
And... If the people who can afford to take it easy *do* take it easy, it eases the hustle on the people who are less well off.
The irony of all of this is that it was the entire purpose of "observing the sabbath." Sad that the forgetting of and twisting of it was based off of a reformation along the same branch of religion that recognized the necessity of it in the first place.
The protestant reformation and the "work ethic" associated, being if you work hard and make constructive use of your time you are therefore worthy of heaven and God's approval, has A LOT to answer for. Especially with workaholics and perfectionist trying to win love acceptance and approval from others (conscious or unconscious) by working themselves to the ground.
Underlying the question „why work?” is the question “why live?”. One is encouraged to adopt cultural norms, without considering this latter question; hence people readily become functions within a machine. This operates within a regime controlled by a specific form of money (debt-based, compound-interest linked, allied to Capital possession). It automatically demands exponential, unsustainable growth and debt whilst concentrating around quasi-capital, with resultant social and environmental costs. That’s before one even gets into the questionable finance, trade and marketing practices which exacerbate the situation. Driving people apart also helps to create more customers for things which would otherwise be shared. I answer the “why live?” question with “Life is a chance a) to have enjoyable experiences and b) to help other people have enjoyable experiences. If it ceases to be that, I’m off to self-compost. Attached to “b” is my arrogance that perhaps I’m worth more alive than dead; obviously a questionable point.
I was struck by a chronic illness 5 years ago which rendered me unable to work. I am fortunate enough that my husband earns enough to support our family. We aren’t rich but perfectly comfortable. We have all we need. However, the level of guilt I have about not being able to work has is huge. I’m in my 50s and spend a lot of time beating myself up for acquiring something completely beyond my control. This seems to be reinforced by the question “what do you do?” when I meet someone new. I stumble for words trying to justify why I am unable to work. I inadvertently feed myself into the “deserving poor” narrative. I believe in the idea of working to gain what you need to survive and the rest of your time is your own. Applying it to myself however seems trickier.
Also, "enough" is a really important word. Big conversation.
Both Luther and Calvin were known to be difficult people to be around, and their personality issues did affect their protestant theology.
I see a video blaming Martin Luther, I click it. It’s that simple.
You don't like Martin Luther, do you? :(
@@gwang3103...
Are you one of those Roman Catholic bigots?💙
Martin Luther isn't really to blame for the modern work ethic. He was just one guy who held an opinion on work being a calling. He was not the first nor the last to say such things. Nothing really changed in terms of work ethic until centuries after his death.
The real genesis of the modern work ethic begins with the Industrial revolution when machines started to compete with human labor. It up ended the social contract of traditional labor and replaced it with a "worse deal" where humans were told to keep up with the machines or else lose their livelihoods.
You should also take into account economics, one hour of a modern man costs much more than an hour of any premodern man. You have to work more just to survive. Constant “progress” leads to continuous inflation, debts..
Having a calling is one thing but turning it into a way to make a living is another. I've been an active musician in my local scene for over 40 years. I always thought that was my calling but I've never made more that a couple thousand dollars a year. Even with the ability to make money online now that hasn't changed the situation much compared to previous decades. There is so much saturation that we're all fighting for time slots for gigs. If I make a few hundred now per year off of recorded music, gigs and merch that's considered a success.
I have thought since my school days despite it being a "Catholic Grammar school That the term The "Reformation" was in fact a spelling mistake. There was an "R" where there should have been a "D". Now 72 years old I am totally convinced and there seem to be others who are coming round to the idea.
P.S. I also think the term "The Enlightenment " is an Oxymoron.
Agreed on those two. Also “progressivism”
@@MarkSmithbasic-ei3ue "Isims" Doncha love em .
Deformation then?
Everyone always says to replace it with something else, but never goes into detail with what
I work way too much… I’ve spent my 20’s and 30’s working 80-100 hour weeks… I’m now in my early forties, and I’m trying like hell to get my time back. The wife and I bought a food truck and we are on year four with it. It’s almost to the point where we can take comfortably the winter off with our earnings from the summer.
Another very important and correct video. In this context, it is worth looking for videos on the topic “Human Brain and Default Network / DFN”. The DFN becomes active when we are doing nothing and we are only just learning that it is immensely important, also for our mental health, but not only.
Thanks
Köszönöm :)
One thing I don't understand in people is how some people sneer at people who don't want to work 10 hours a day plus 2 hours commuting per day.
Personally I'd probably work better with 4-6 hours per day and then rest.
4-6 h sounds more reasonable to me than 10 h!
Studies have shown that people thrive with a 6 hour work day and their productivity increases
@@stephbutler8704 That's also a stupid take! Work less but more? Why?
@@stephbutler8704absolute bulls--t. Where are your citations and was it a sample of a 100 participants?
Productive people will always be more productive then less productive people. No artificial measure will change this. It's nature which is reality.
@@SeanWaters1120 That doesn't work with any manual labor type job. You can't beat physics.
If you ever find out that "Something better " do let us know because I am tired of the 'grind'. Years and years of it, just to be able to live, to do more of it.
I studied electrical engineering and saw a lot of companies from the inside over the years and the reason we don't automate most jobs (which we could with some effort) is that labor is too cheap and inequality too high. It might sound kinda weird saying labor is too cheap at first. For average people labor is extremely expensive, but for the big companies often owned by extremely rich individuals labor is actually way cheaper than automating even basic tasks, just because their wealth is so enormous compared to what average people have. So innovation is kinda stuck and only done if it basically comes for free or the competition has innovated.
So also here inequality is the main cause of the problem. It does go much deeper than this short explanation, but I guess youtube comments do have a character limit for a reason ; )
Hey, thanks! Do you have any books or articles you suggest I read if I want to understand your point better?
As someone whose day-to-day is basically completely oriented around automating stuff, I think this theory is somewhat correct but also not the entire picture. On the contrary, we simply have too many complex systems to automate -- nothing could change in the business I work for and I'd have 2~3 years of projects in my backlog for things to automate, and yet in reality as the business evolves and other parts of it get modernized and automated, even more things get put into the backlog and what was modern yesterday is tomorrow's technical debt. Pick any industry, and as a consumer one might take for granted that stuff "just works" - orders get fulfilled, shelves get stocked, services get activated, stuff gets shipped, appointments get kept, etc - but actually there are often thousands of background processes at play, often each with their own myriad of edge cases and sub-processes to handle the fallout of any of those steps going sideways. There is a huge amount of investment into automating all of this stuff, but the technical skillset needed to build automation is in short supply.
@@timothymiron3620 Imagine though wages were 4x as high, there would be a lot more pressure on businesses to find simpler processes. Plus if people had more time to reskill, because they were a lot richer, there could be a lot more people working on automation. Right now we have a large part of the workforce which cannot get into these jobs simply because it is not worth it to educate them, just because they come from poorer backgrounds (it is absolutely not efficient, that in germany for example most people at universities have academics as parents).
@@timothymiron3620 And I somewhat disagree that automation skillsets are in short supply, they are right were the market demand is. Otherwise big tech companies would never have done massive layoffs.
@@pericvlor I don't think big tech layoffs say much about the availability of automation skills in the overall economy. Big Tech is one place where there is _not_ a scarcity of this type of skillset. If anything, big tech layoffs are more related to misallocation / over concentration, than serving as any proof of abundance in the economy writ large.
I also don't think its realistic to assume that some large portion of the population would take up automation-related vocations if given the choice. It is already the case that the free market sees engineering type roles of all sorts command relatively higher compensation than many other aspects of the economy.
There's also the problem of much of the work needed requiring not only engineering skills but also deep and often boutique domain knowledge, and the nature of many types of projects being not conductive to being finished any faster by simply throwing more people at them. The book 'the mythical man month' comes to mind here.
Anyways, I think its a relatively nuanced problem.
I do agree with you that to some degree low wages disincentivize the type of step-change investment in automation that would otherwise be pursued, but I work at a company that has at least one single identifiable area of the business that costs over $2 billion/year to operate and has for the past 5+ years thrown similar amounts of money at automating as much of it as possible, but as mentioned the level of complexity that shows up when we try to have 'systems' interface with the messy 'real world' means that much of it remains (for now) needing humans in the loop at the fringes. Artificial Intelligence will unlock huge swaths of this backlog, and to that end the next 3~5 years are going to be crazy, but that's a separate rant.
Fantastic work on content. Thanks!
Thank you Fernando :)
You've communicated this concept so well. I have debated with a friend about the purpose of work a few times and they are strong believers in the Protestant work ethic. I am going to send this to them and maybe it'll help them think outside of that norm a little more, because what I've said never gets through lol.
It’s horses for courses. Some people (actually most people) need work. They need something to put their effort and energy into. I find these people usually don’t have any other passions or interests that they can throw themselves into. So work is good for them.
Once again impeccable video from you, dear sir! I worked my ass off the last week up to the point by back hurt and my left big toe went nearly numb.
Thank you! What do you do for work?
Warehouse work - and I guess that combined with a tight work ethic can be a bit.. Devastating, hehe!@@TheMarketExit
@@koyha5266 Do you work long shifts? What country? I also worked at a warehouse once, much of the time we had nothing to do so I spent most of my work days reading books and drinking tea to keep warm in the cold warehouse.
Part of the problem is our expectations about what we "need" to live a comfortable life. Think about it: our ancestors didn't need to earn money to buy a TV or pay the electric bill. They only bought the absolute basics. If we were prepared to live at the same standard of living our ancestors did it would cost far less.
"pay the electric bill" I pay ~30 EUR per month for the electric bill
that is ~2h of work; that is much less time than I would need to collect wood, build fires, clean out the ash etc. to cook for a full month
only an example - but in that regards it is easier and less work to pay for the electric bill than to accept the living standard of our ancesters
Unfortunately, housing, which is one of our core basic needs, costs a significant percentage of our incomes now - sometimes over 50% of our incomes.
Rent is the biggest issue
They had community and stable housing though, and more free time, which are prohibitively expensive now. TV and similar lixuries are not the reason why we work extra as much as cheqp fixes tot hw.more expensivw things we have lost
@ jt1559
That’s a valid point.
What’s driving a huge part of the struggle are the contributions one has to deliver to the rentier class of landowners and owners of other natural resources.
Economical theorist Silvio Gesell advocated a path between capitalism and communism.
- You own what you build or grow on the land, but never the land itself.
Land should be owned by the community and be for lease only.
Got to confess.... I retired at 32, been playing with the concept for the last 38 years, it's still working (sic) for me
How
haha, I want to retire right now too, how did you retire so early?
I'm all for working and fulfilling a personal calling. However, work isn't just what one does for money. Work is caring for yourself, your family, friends, and your community. Praying, listening, contemplating, studying, exercising, and being present all take energy and, therefore, are a form of work. Meaningful work. I love that you mentioned Erich Fromm. One of my favorite books is "To Have or to Be." We need to go from a having culture to a being culture.
Very well crafted, articulated, and delivered. Thanks a lot... I got a lot of points for my anti corporate argument.
Adhd is just pinnacle hunter gatherer.
Anthropologists estimate that hunter gatherer groups spend about 20hrs per person per week on survival activities.
With their family and biddies, work/hunting/whatever was a social activity
One of my ex pupils gave me a book, "How to be Lazy", and it delves into the history of how people used to live, and how we've been conned into working too much.
Scientists looked at hunter gatherer societies and discovered that they worked far less than most modern people do.
The dark side of hunter gatherer existence was that there was no private property and no way of keeping any surplus even if you choose to work long hours and amass a surplus for leaner times. Forward planning and storing up a food surplus for winter only came with agriculture and this required a system of organised laws and customs designed to prevent casual theft of goods stored for future use by a given community.
@@jgdooley2003 Funnily enough, I've just seen the video with that title. I'll have to watch it when I get back from... work.
Brilliantly put together. That well-known Simon Sinek talk is really put into its proper context. Another reason why people work so much is fear. With all the wars and raising inflation etc etc, as we've become future-oriented because of our protestant mindset, we worry about retirement well before, some people even in their 20s.ogiiiri Living to contemplate our place in the universe...what a lovely quote of Aristotle. This video really is enlightening, thank you.
this is such a great channel, when i saw the amount of views i was in disbelief. keep up the good work, hope the algorithm notices you man!
I hope so too! ;) thank you!
Thanks!
Thanks Stephen!
Your videos are a piece of art. The quality and the message are mind blowing. U deserve millions of subscribers fr
Thank you :)
Wow! So interesting. Yep - mindblowing is right, that visual is just brilliant. Thankyou.
Absolutely incredible videos. Concise, easy to understand, making powerful points. Other video essayists have much to learn.
Of course we should work and keep our body's moving for the mind and body but this working a dead end job so someone else makes all the money is horseshit and I think that's one of the main reasons why people aren't working today
Spot on.
Yes it's both the lack of real purpose, often terrible work deals with low salaries and too long hours, and that just the type of jobs most people do nowadays are unnatural and unhealthy both physically and mentally thats the issue. Humans were made for working on a farm (the old fashioned way preferably) or hunting or otherwise with nature. Not saying everyone should do that. But its something people are much better suited to do and most people would be in a much more harmonious state. We need both the exercise and contact with nature and maybe the sense of actually producing something tangible
What's crazy about that is that almost every problem modern society faces, like severe inequality in the distribution of wealth, ecological problems and climate change etc. comes down to one thing: the capitalistic mindset we get infused the moment we are born. It's all interconnected. We work too much, produce too much, consume too much, and therefore we need more resources than earth can reproduce.
I always found it mind boggling that it is about creating jobs for the sake of it. It's not about how much work has to be done. There is no upper limit. The more the better. And it's paradox because the alleged purpose of people working so much is so they can enjoy life. But for most of us this ends in working too much and living too little.
I think the most important thing is realizing that many of those needs we want to satisfy and that motivate us to work more are created by others so they themselves can sell more, therefore work, produce and earn more, just in order for them to satisfy their own needs that again were created by others through marketing and were then reproduced within society.
The imagination of what makes a good live needs to shift in order for real change to arise.
BTW I really enjoy your channel. Keep up the great work.
Hear hear
To work only just enough sounds great!
I love the topic, i love the montage, keep up the good work!
Thanks, will do!
Most of us are not classed as slaves but we are in a system of servitude.
Peoples money can be spent on pointless consumerism but most goes to basic living requirements of rent/morgage. Taxes, utility bills.
A car so that we can get to and from our place servitude to make money so we can pay pur bills and taxes with just enough food so we can stay alive to keep doing this cycle of siht.
I'm Catholic and I'm anti-capitalist and this just made my day😂😂😂
I read years ago Max Weber's The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and I have become convinced it hit the bull's eye. And yet, through my adult life I have explained it to many Protestants. All wave it away as, "That's just your opinion," or,
"That's just his opinion." I'm Catholic and I've never convinced any Protestants of anything. I can't reason with them. Historical explanations mean nothing to them. Bible quotes, logic, all bounces off them - and they all can't agree with other Protestants. Each denomination believes it is the true church. I have always been frustrated living in the World Headquarters of Protestantism, the United States. Materially we've had it good, but intellectually we are a mess.
Then share your thoughts online. Who has the ears for this will listen. No need to get frustrated. Make a few videos.
Great work; The practicality of these views can vary based on individual perspectives and cultural contexts. Weber’s emphasis on the Protestant work ethic has been associated with the rise of capitalism and economic success in certain regions. However, Aristotle’s focus on eudaimonia may resonate more with those who prioritize overall well being and virtue. We must ask ourselves, when contemplating either perspective what constitutes a sense of happiness? Is it practical? In the end, My personal perspective is we are luring to be productive, in turn, this provides us fulfillment. By being productive, we benefit someone else, even if a selfish motive lies between the action and duty. On the behalf of our production, we in turn provide utility to someone else; such as this lovely video. Therefore, utilitarianism may be at the root of the people you mentioned, but then again what do I know, just speculating. Thanks for the video and this thought, Merry Christmas! 🎁
Thanks for interesting thoughts! I agree with you that all of us want to feel useful. There is a risk that we in today's labour society, mainly value our "usefulness" in the labour market (what we do as employees or entrepreneurs) while the usefulness we have in our extended families, in our neighborhood, in our churches, in our sports organizations etc. aren't viewed as "valuable" in quite the same way. Merry Christmas my friend!
I’m all for working to earn bread and a roof over my head. But I’m so drained from living to work that it’s made me sick.
As if I needed more reasons to dislike Martin Luther lol. Great video.
Don't forget to blame him (and John Calvin) for the fact that most of us can read and write, too. We might be working less if 80% of us were illiterate, but we would be getting paid WAY less. Our modern elites would be delighted!
In praise of idleness is an essay by bertrand Russell, i am adherant to the traditional work ethic but i suppose i have done 80 hour working weeks before.
Or as the author of the book bullshit jobs said „Humans became obsessed with productivity“
I wish I could make enough in 2 hours of work to survive the rest of the week. I would retire right now if I could and just ponder my place in the universe.
I was once an employed lawyer and have been a self-employed lawyer for almost three decades. Unlike many of my colleagues, I have always preferred to work little and dedicate a lot of attention to the clients who hire me, whether their cases are small or large. Working less is important to me because I need time to read and dedicate myself to another activity that I enjoy, maintaining a blog on various subjects and, of course, politics. I have not earned as much money as my colleagues, but I have certainly read and commented on more books and have even managed to interfere in some way in the political life of my country (something that arouses a certain jealousy in those who limit themselves to earning money but have not conquered the space that I have created for myself). Motivation for work is important. The fact that one of my jobs is unpaid is not a problem, because when work and pleasure meet, the Lutheran self-torture disguised as a work ethic ceases to exist.
This is exactly how I will henceforth refer to my persistent habit of excessive online videogame indulgence: "spiritual contemplation".
I like it!
Andres is an Aristotle of his time
I dreamed of a perfect society when I was 10-12 and it was something similar to this. You would live in a comunity and basically get everything for free provided that you work for a few hours every day to make it possible to keep things as they are. You could work for more in order to get money and do other things but it would not be required. It is more complex but people said I did not want that and that it sounded like prisson. I later was in prisson for a few months and I swear that it was the best months in my life. I often say that if I didn't need to do crime to get to prisson I would like to live there for the rest of my life.
Really interesting comment!
May i ask why you went to prison?
@@tonyp.bahama9368 how much detail do you want? assault is the short answer.
It exists, It is called Comunism
You're aware prisons cost a lot of money right?
Great video. Difficult to find proof of someone taking the time to think for a bit nowadays. Great job keep it up.
Working to live has been replaced by living to work because of the convergence of several considerations, and the resulting intersection between a few social and moral metrics.
Firstly, we attach our own self worth, and our perception of our worth in other people's minds, by how much we produce. However, individual work output and its actual worth is not measured the same way from one person to the next, nor the same way individually and collectively. Working only enough to meet our individual living needs is often deemed as selfish or parasitical because our own worth in society is measured by how much more we each contribute to it, in excess of our own personal needs, while conveniently white-washing over the fact that the very society we're part of, and seek acceptance from, also all too readily allows a small portion of it to unfairly gain a grossly disproportionate portion of the wealth that's generated by the resulting collective production surplus. The other factor that shapes our society, its welfare and its attitude towards work, is that the same wealthy minority is also benefiting from a disproportionately large amount of power and control it has over the rest of our society, to maintain its separation from the same hardships faced by the rest of us, as well as maintain its ability to exert that same large amount of power and control.
This particular aspect is also why our society doesn't allow individual work output to be measured more equitably, or for that matter, for the resulting wealth to be distributed more equitably.
I appreciate what you're doing here, brother. Solidarity from the dystopian United States.
I really feel like people are no longer cultivated in appropriate ways, rather we are forced onto procrustean beds for companies to profit off of, but everything just winds up artificially inflating asset prices in a bubble because productivity is stalling for a lot of varied reasons. I think we perfected maximizing outputs but we’ve only started scratching the surface of figuring out how to manage inputs. The idea that if enough is good than more would be awesome seems to not work out the majority of the time.
A DC area apartment is 50k today, on the higher end
For 2 bed bath
25k per person
5k for groceries and an unlimited bus pass yearly
30k
Just 100k in tqqq etf would have been enough capital gains for retirement over the last decade
Most Americans can get 100k within a year or two, between hard work and some gifts received from older relatives.
That we work beyond these 2 years or so, is obviously representative of cultural pressures ❤😢❤😢❤
A great book to read is ‘ the good life’ by Helen and Scott nearing.. a good way of finding a balance between modern life and human creative tendencies
Interestingly, I see creatives working according to the older ethics. They tend to set up projects, some of them for income, others for their own desires
Excellent flic. Thank you
Suddenly I now understand why so many teachers quit after a short number of years.
And no wonder the training, the pgde program that I am enrolled in, to become one, is so painful too .
All your videos are amazing and super dense in information that is explained in an understandable way. Keep going. Cant wait to see more.
What you invest in these productions is truly amazing and as a 60 yo life-long student of History, Politics a.o. I've yet to find one I don't agree with. Thx.
loved this (thank you)
A lot of people see my hard working ethics and pressure me to pursue "real jobs" for "future security". But I always refuse because I have already observed the people working full time at my place. They spend 9 hours a day, 26 days a month with the base salary that is slightly higher than my part time rate. Yes, for these people, they need this job because all they can think of is working. For me, I live frugily and I have a very inconsistent working hour. There are weeks I can work 60-70 hours. There are weeks I only work around 20-30 weeks. And during those off time, I usually spend time for my actual hobby which is learning extra language and drawing. I don't even plan to use these skills for jobs because I damn know working the job with my appropriate skills will kill my passion for these in the 1st place.
I work part time because I can hop between places and make new friends. Plus I don't like a consistent schedule. I work to live not live to work. Maybe some day I will find a job that I can actually enjoy and work consistently. But for now, I want to feel like Iiving and able to have enough to sustain myself
These ideals of working less for more(for yourself) seem appealing but can only be applied to white collar jobs and the capitals(business owners, employers etc.). Because for those that belongs to these 2 categories, you can exploit technologies and other people to replicate the value you create by your own effort.
How can this apply to those who work in blue collar job? When their only mean of creating value is skills + manual labor + experience.
I think about this a lot. It seems like we invent a lot of technology now that is supposed to make our lives easier. While this tech does make our lives easier in some cases, it mostly just makes our lives more productive because don't adjust our work hours when we can all of a sudden do more in a day. This in turn makes the economy move even faster and and the same goes for the destruction of the planet. I wish we could find a balance. Say this is what we need as a society to function and live a happy life. We all work towards achieving those goals then we could just relax.
You hit the nail
A lot of heroic Catholic Saints, Kings, craftsmen, etc., worked incredibly hard, but the philosophy behind it was totally different from the Protestant work ethic. Ideally (people were flawed of course), if people worked above and beyond what was needed, it was more for the love of God and the poor, their craft, or their country. It was for an ideal, more than just for money. People in the "merchant class (i.e., businessmen in modern terms)" did not have the high status rich people do now. If they worked hard only to amass wealth, it was considered miserly and dishonorable. Great work presenting these ideas!
For myself,, I think Calvin and Luther were onto a basic human need and desire. However, some translate success into excess, excess hours, excess money, excess stuff... It is joy to enjoy the success of our work. But we need to be able to think on the nature of our goals for success, and know that in the end we die.
its about mindset and education:
as dad always said: "if you work fulltime and you cant save(without troubles) half of it, you doing something wrong"
when I wanted to buy rims for my car for ~1k at ~20y: "if u have money for that stuff, u gonna pay rent at home"
when wanted to invest 20k in "wealthmanagement": u gonna pay rent.
I also had to maintain a balance of at least 1k on my bank account.
And when the money starts to pile up, some ppl(like me) really start living frugally. Who cares about 300$ saved? Its 30k now, when we have 40?
U live like you live, independent of your income(not for quality food, health, family)
I started crying when I realized that without a job my life is meaningless to me.
Urgz, that’s hard mate, maybe get a hobby and rethink your existence *obi-wan meme*
Exercise, grow a garden, write a book, create a song, build a house, mow your lawn, volunteer, clean something, build something, invent something, throw a party, go learn a new skill, play chess, learn an instrument, learn to sing, make a tool, improve something better, redesign things better, teach kids, teach people, help old people, help someone, save abandoned pets, hike, start a business, sell something, sleep, rest, binge watch whatever you like, go gamble, listen to lectures, help a friend, be a friend, talk to your neighbor, talk to your parents and siblings, cook, hunt, breed livestock, lick a lollipop...
I have an infinite list of things for you to do.
@@lestrike2707 I might get a hobby and rethink my existence.
@@A.I.- Thanks :)
“ Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. - Ephesians 4:28.
“If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. - Ecclesiastes 9:10
But sure, blame Luther. Delighted to hear that Luther has had such a massive impact, even on Catholics.
Protestant here. I think there is a massive difference between the work ethic that Luther an Calvin espoused and the post-industrial scheduled tedium that we have in the modern secular world.
The protestant work ethic is right, in that we each have a calling, and we are placed in this world to serve God and other people. We are not here for ourselves. However "serving God and other people" is so much wider than just working for money. It is about taking responsibility for what you have been given, and using that to glorify God to the best of your ability. This includes non-paid material things, like taking care of your living space, and also non-material things like spending time with family and friends. Even enjoying the fruit of your labor is a very protestant thing to do.
Also, the idea of working hard is way older than Protestantism. In fact, I would argue that Protestantism was a fundamentalist movement, trying to get back to what Christianity was originally supposed to mean, and trying to be as close to the Bible as possible. The Bible is full of the importance of hard work. I mean look at the 4th commandment (Work for 6 days, rest for 1) and look at how much hard work is praised by the book of Proverbs.
It is a difference if you work on your own field /own vinyard or as a wage slave for someone else. We use/Bible uses the same word "work" but actually we should have 2 different words for that.
@sheridansherr8974 On the other hand, the New Testament encourages Christian slaves to work heartily. So even as a wage slave, you should work hard. However, this needs to also be seen in the larger context of the New Testament, where love is set as the driving factor for human relationships. So being a hard working wage slave is a way for a Christian worker to love their boss. However, the Christian worker needs to take care to not neglect his love towards his family and other people and things that God gave him.
Profit motive work ethic is not compatible with traditional religion and it is heresy to claim it is "divine" or messianic. You cannot put profit motive over religion and yet claim to follow it when you clearly have stated you follow the former.
Religion does not need modernising or being changed to fit Enlightenment principles. Either follow Orthodoxy or leave and make your own religion.
I don't belong to any religion, but I think the kind of protestant work ethic you describe makes a lot more sense and is actually meaningful and healthy. Work is not just what makes money, and sometimes what doesnt make money could be more meaningful than something that does. Different people also have different callings in life, and that is different from the job society forces you into. People also need rest and taking the neccesary time to rest is not the same as being lazy in my opinion
@@zakosist Yes. Thanks for the constructive conversation. Christianity is an easily-misunderstood religion, and it begs for honest exploration and intellectual effort by those who are inclined to such things. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts.
Even in this video's comments section, someone said that "to be a good protestant is to be a good willing slave." In a way this is true. If our "slavery" adheres to the the principles of glorifying God and loving our neighbors, good protestants will be good and willing slaves. If our "slavery" denies either one of those principles, you will find good protestants to be very unwilling slaves indeed.
I think this work ethic is more to do with industrialisation and in the UK giving public land to private owners (enclosure acts) so we have no choice but to work for other peoples financial gain just to survive. This entrapment is further extended by the inflated price of housing, a result of inequality and greed.
Absolutely. We live in a huge complex system that is optional. In the 1700s we took a huge lumbering mechanical coal driven lurch to the right and off the path we were on. We have a choice now. There are other ways in which humanity could exist, thrive and co-operate. We have lost sight of it but it is there.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.
So, the golden standard of life ought to be
Somewhere in between.
A key is Universal Basic Income and the “Left” had better get there before the “Right” does.
For UBI can be a great force for good or ill.