Hard work seems to be expected from anyone who is able to perform it in this country, perhaps because it is an old established puritan value or perhaps because settling virgin land (why count the indians?) and developping it was hard work for the hearty pioneers pushing (the indians) west.
In any case, it is a respected value and is almost expected of any good citizen (or illegal immigrant for that matter :D). I’m pretty sure The Constitution says that any political speech must assert that hard-working americans deserve better than what their current slimeball administration is giving them. No mention of the “welfare queens” and their rights.
The problem with this is as follows: Puritans were crazy and burned women because they thought they could do magic and pioneers were land thieves who thought the only good redskin was a dead redskin and that a girl should be married by 11. Moreover, both those groups live in the past and are currently dead.
Why should we want to associate work with “Hard” instead of fullfilling or fun.
First of all, your characterization of both American puritans and frontier settlers are so incorrect as to be insulting. But hard work is important because it’s the way to get things done.
Gozu, you’ve engaged in an ad hominem attack. The value of hard work is not based up on those who may or may not have originally had the value or brought it to our culture, but upon it’s own merits. Personally, I take being called a “hard-worker” as a compliment, and I don’t see it as mutually exclusive with fulfilling or fun. For instance, I enjoy my job, and I put a lot of effort into it, but it’s also fulfilling and fun.
Quite frankly, I think it’s an important value because, as Captain Amazing said, it’s how we get things done. Americans in particular, true or not, like to think of ourselves as hard-working, and because we put in that effort, many feel we deserve something for it. Really, would you argue that, for two people that do the same job, where one performs better, that he doesn’t deserve more pay, benefits, privileges, or some combination of those?
What would you propose “hard-working” be replaced with?
“Fun-working” just sounds wrong, though. But otherwise I support your ideas full on. People (Americans especially, it seems) need to learn to relax more. Take more holidays. Work shorter hours. Definitely.
The words “hard work” have their value in describing, well, exactly that–hard work. When you want to talk about fun work, or lovable work, or any other type of work, you only have to exchange adjectives and you’re good to go.
And exactly where those damned Puritans come into the picture I’m not sure…surely the concept of hard work has existed elsewhere and elsewhen?
Which is not mutually exclusive with being hard-working. In fact, one of the reasons for working hard while you are working is to hurry up and finish what needs to be done (and do it well, so it won’t need to be re-done) so that you can then enjoy your leisure time.
Work isn’t about you. It’s something you do that is of benefit to other people (otherwise they wouldn’t pay you for it), although if you’re fortunate, you’ll be able to work at something that does also provide you with some enjoyment or fulfillment. But the reason hard work is a societal value—why other people value it when you do it—is precisely because it benefits society (assuming, of course, that you’re working at something that really does benefit society).
And in many societies and circumstances throughout history, the only alternatives to being a hard worker were being a parasite, having a very low standard of living, or starving.
The political context of “hard working” seems to be that it is okay to help people working as hard as they can but still not getting ahead as opposed to people who goof off, and who can make more money if they just tried.
Culturally, I’m not sure what society’s view of hard work is any more, given the number of movies about slackers who get the hot chicks.
There is a fascinating paper which shows that for engineers or others doing jobs that require decisions, a 50 hour work week is about the same as a 40 hour week in terms of productivity. You spend an extra five hours making mistakes, then five more correcting them. But your management thinks you’re really dedicated, and then can’t understand why the project is still late despite all the overtime.
In my opinion, hard work is valuable because it can contribute to building good character. Also, for obvious reasons, that which is earned through hard work is likely to be valued more than that which is attained without effort.
So a hard working “Old Dope Peddler” is better than a lazy one?
Forget about good character. No matter what the job is, the person working hard is going to be the one picked to get promoted, get the good raise, or even get an unexpected opportunity. I’ve seen this happen again and again.
Working hard can also be an indicator of incompetence. I accomplish my tasks with aplomb, for I am competent. Those numbnuts who run around all stressed and stay till 9:00 are incompetent as often as not.
Hard work isn’t the same as productivity. For that matter, productivity doesn’t necessarily get one ahead in the corporate world; I’ve seen incompetent ass-kissers promoted.
