It’s not so much protestant work ethic as the market revolution work ethic. Going to a building for a specified number of hours per week then getting a fixed salary is a fairly modern invention, and it has become normalized as the proper way to live in the US (unless you are exceptional).
Directing an NGO, giving free talks as an intellectual and couch surfing the world (which requires a fair bit of effort to do cheaply—the average person would rack up a huge bill) are not what I think about when I think about being “unemployed”. Of course I would love to high status enough enough to do those things, and have something to fall back on when I’m done but I can’t. Maybe when I’m done with my education and have been working for a few years I’ll consider this.
Going to a building for a specified number of hours per week then getting a fixed salary is a fairly modern invention
Eighteenth century, more or less? Plus, the dominant alternative is being a peasant or a small craftsman which is even further away from living as a member of couch-surfing intelligentsia :-)
It’s not so much protestant work ethic as the market revolution work ethic. Going to a building for a specified number of hours per week then getting a fixed salary is a fairly modern invention, and it has become normalized as the proper way to live in the US (unless you are exceptional).
Directing an NGO, giving free talks as an intellectual and couch surfing the world (which requires a fair bit of effort to do cheaply—the average person would rack up a huge bill) are not what I think about when I think about being “unemployed”. Of course I would love to high status enough enough to do those things, and have something to fall back on when I’m done but I can’t. Maybe when I’m done with my education and have been working for a few years I’ll consider this.
Eighteenth century, more or less? Plus, the dominant alternative is being a peasant or a small craftsman which is even further away from living as a member of couch-surfing intelligentsia :-)