# Good work ethic vs obedient slave

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-work-ethic-vs-obedient-slave/704416>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 12, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-work-ethic-vs-obedient-slave/704416 "2014-11-12T03:59:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-work-ethic-vs-obedient-slave/704416/41 "2014-12-09T15:41:23Z")

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> [@Mr.Nylock](#):
>
> I think it has to do with what class you were raised in to a certain degree(this is probably the most assholish thing I’ll ever say on the boards). People from lower classes buy into a lot of this nonsense about hard work being a virtue unto itself. It’s really one on the easiest ways I’m able to tell what someone’s background is. YMMV

I’m not sure why you think that’s “assholish”. A person’s economic status and upbringing plays a significant part in defining how they view “work”.

Take someone who was raised on a farm where there are 12 hours of chores that need to get done every day, no excuses, or the farm won’t survive. Compare them against someone who was raised in an affluent home where they had nannies and housekeepers and were taught that “hard work” meant getting good grades in school and graduating from a good college.

> [@jtur88](#):
>
> You mean, you can always find another predatory corporation to abuse their power over you?
> 
> Corporations can only compete with each other if they all screw the bottom feeders according to what they can get away with, regardless of whether it is through employment practices or marketing deception.

“Corporations” at the end of the day, are just collections of people. Maybe a more pertinent question is if you are really working for the betterment of that collection of people or if you’re just working for the betterment of an inner circle of multi millionaires who are the ones actually in control?

To me, it seems like American companies large and small are moving away from the concept of having “workers”. Mostly they are now just complex networks of middle managers overseeing each other. The actual “work” gets performed offshore or by outside consultants and vendors.

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