Word: ethicality
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During the Great Depression, the work ethic flourished because people faced destitution unless they could find something productive to do. World War II intensified the work ethic under the banner of patriotism. While the boys were on the battlefront, the folks on the home front serenaded Rosie the Riveter; a long day's work was a contribution to the national defense. In sum, the American work ethic is rooted in Puritan piety, immigrant ambition and the success ethic; it has been strengthened by Depression trauma and wartime patriotism...
Automation has given many people the ethic-eroding impression that work may some day be eliminated, that machines will eventually take over society's chores. Says John Kenneth Galbraith: "The greatest prospect we face is to eliminate toil as a required economic institution...
...these changes and challenges mean that Americans have lost the work ethic? There is considerable evidence that they have not. After all, more than 90% of all men in the country between the ages of 20 and 54 are either employed or actively seeking work-about the same percentage as 25 years ago. Over the past two decades, the percentage of married women who work has risen from 25% to 42%. Hard-driving executives drive as hard as they ever did. Even welfare recipients embrace the work ethic. In a recent study of 4,000 recipients and non-recipients...
What is happening is that the work ethic is undergoing a radical transformation. Workers, particularly younger ones, are taking work more seriously, not less. Many may have abandoned the success ethic of their elders, but they still believe in work. Young and old are willing to invest more effort in their work, but are demanding a bigger payoff in satisfaction. The University of Michigan Survey Research Center asked 1,533 working people to rank various aspects of work in order of importance. "Good pay" came in a distant fifth, behind "interesting work," "enough help and equipment...
...United Auto Workers intend to make a major point of its demand for increased participation by workers in decision-making within plants. "People look at life in different ways than they used to," says Douglas Fraser, a U.A.W. vice president. "Maybe we ought to stop talking about the work ethic and start talking about the life ethic...