Work and Social Values

Paper Summary:

The paper reveals that in the U.S. today, work derives more often from relative social status and income than from any pleasure or satisfaction inherent in the work or in its value to society. The paper then discusses how the motivation of continual upward mobility is measured by the ability to display the trappings associated with wealth, as seen by the subprime mortgage crisis where many are victims of their own greed to acquire the most expensive home. The paper concludes that the psychological health of the individual and the financial health of the U.S. economy will require a fundamental shift in the values and motivations that are behind professional achievement in the United States.

Outline:
Traditional Social Values and the Merit of Work
The Psychological Bases of Vocational Motivation
The Futility of Aspiring to Upward Economic Mobility in the United States
Differentiating Healthy and Dysfunctional Vocational Motivation

From the Paper:

"In the U.S. work has become one of the primary elements of individual psychological identity and derives much more often from the concept of relative social status and income associated with occupations than from any pleasure or satisfaction inherent in the work or the objective value of its product to society. Psychologists warn that this is a recipe for perpetual unhappiness and the current subprime mortgage crisis illustrates the pitfalls of a constant theme of upward mobility that is "measured by consumption and the impulse to increase earning in order to display acquisitive wealth" (Stanley & Danko 1996). According to Albert Einstein, this motivation for professional achievement poisons the educational system as well, by virtue of the underlying reasons that students choose their courses of study and devote their efforts to them."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Branden, N. (1985) Honoring the Self: The Psychology of Confidence and Respect. New York: Bantam
• Einstein, A. (1954) Ideas and Opinions. New York: Crown
• Lowenstein, R. (2007) Subprime Time: How Did Home Ownership Become So Rickety? New York Times Magazine; Sept. 2/07
• Mills, C. (1953) White Collar: The American Middle Class. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Russell, B. (1992) The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell. (Edited by Egner & Denonn). London: Routledge

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