Oddbean new post about login | logout Can it be any surprise that after a decade of stagnant real #wages, the dire state of UK #management practice, the continued media focus on celebrity culture (where the talentless but 'entertaining' are rewarded) & a #Tory government that has made it its #business to shove money to its mates, that a significant minority of young people increasingly do not see a clear link between hard work and a 'better life'. The only Q. is how fast is this feeling spreading? https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/07/britons-view-work-less-important-other-nationalities-study
@43d7c4ea It’s one of the things that I learned from working for a German-owned company: British management culture and practices are 40 years out of date, and I believe the main cause of underperformance.
@43d7c4ea As Bobby Duffy says in the article, "When absolute incomes are stuck and people feel the dice is loaded against them while others get ahead, even if they work hard, then the motivation to work is going to be affected.” Though tbh, this was a prevalent attitude among working class people of my parents' generation -the boomer-birthers- if my memory is any guide.
@43d7c4ea I think awareness of the way life actually works is spreading. When you realise that a lot of the people you see on TV have parents with their own Wikipedia pages. When you find out that most jobs are filled via social connection What's the point in working hard for a company that openly or obviously regards you as disposable? The reward for working hard and efficiently is more work. And it all pays the same. Extremely dispiriting.
@43d7c4ea This was a really interesting discussion. Chris Dillow's been writing on this for some time, using Alasdair MacIntyre's goods of excellence (mastery of practice) versus goods of effectiveness (wealth power fame). We have totally devalued goods of excellence. I think his links to the arts are an important piece here wrt our culture. From April: https://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2023/04/devaluing-excellence.html