The Work
Ethic in America
Although
the Protestant ethic became a significant factor in shaping the culture and
society of Europe after the sixteenth century, its impact did not eliminate the
social hierarchy which gave status to those whose wealth allowed exemption from
toil and made gentility synonymous with leisure (Rodgers, 1978). The early
adventurers who first found America were searching, not for a place to work and
build a new land, but for a new Eden where abundance and riches would allow
them to follow Aristotle's instruction that leisure was the only life fitting
for a free man. The New England Puritans, the Pennsylvania Quakers, and others
of the Protestant sects, who eventually settled in America, however, came with
no hopes or illusions of a life of ease.
The
early settlers referred to America as a wilderness, in part because they sought
the spiritual growth associated with coming through the wilderness in the Bible
(Rodgers, 1978). From their viewpoint, the moral life was one of hard work and
determination, and they approached the task of building a new world in the
wilderness as an opportunity to prove their own moral worth. What resulted was
a land preoccupied with toil.
When
significant numbers of Europeans began to visit the new world in the early
1800's, they were amazed with the extent of the transformation (Rodgers, 1978).
Visitors to the northern states were particularly impressed by the industrious
pace. They often complained about the lack of opportunities for amusement, and
they were perplexed by the lack of a social strata dedicated to a life of
leisure.
Work
in preindustrial America was not incessant, however. The work of agriculture
was seasonal, hectic during planting and harvesting but more relaxed during the
winter months. Even in workshops and stores, the pace was not constant.
Changing demands due to the seasons, varied availability of materials, and poor
transportation and communication contributed to interruptions in the steadiness
of work. The work ethic of this era did not demand the ceaseless regularity
which came with the age of machines, but supported sincere dedication to
accomplish those tasks a person might have before them. The work ethic
"was not a certain rate of business but a way of thinking" (Rodgers,
1978, p. 19).
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