Some interstin' ideas thrown about in class today. Nothing really to do with accounting so you can read on! Hehe, Wusses!
First thing was the imapct that working for big firms, and tertiary and secondary education has on a persons identity. Particular focus was the work environment. The question raised was: Why do people work so hard, and do so much overtime?
The simple response is ambition, money, and peer group pressure.
The complex response is that people define themselves within a working context. People evaluate themselves in regards to their performance at work, given a particular work environment.
This plays down into society, especially materiality. In the context of an accounting firm, Life success is subtly played out as partnership, but the fast car, the beautiful wife, big house, sexy boat and blonde mistress (Sorry its a fact majority of partners are male!) are all part of the picture painted, and accepted by workers. There is more to this simply saying success is measured in terms of money, its a influence that runs deeper then the hip pocket and often gets to people without them noticing.
This can be extended even more into politics... I just forget what the link is. More on this topic soon.
5 comments:
Just to let you know I still come here from time to time!!
I agree that we work hard because of our inherent ideas about materialism - success etc.
I think work has something to do with our natural instincts. Working provides all those basic essentials like food, shelter etc. In our current society, everything is more elaborate than just the bare essentials, however.
We work hard to 'keep up with the Jones''. It's all tied into that whole survival thing of course. But there's just a lot of droll tacked on, like materialism = success. The big house, flash car and sex kitten are all a part of that image.
Also, many retired ppl find life without work purposeless. They feel lost. Work gives us purpose.
I also wanna add that the body has a relationship with success and social positions. If you look good and are in shape it's more likely that you get a higher position in society. Gyms is for everyone, as long as they have economic capital and cultural competence. With other words, only for people with higher positions in society. And the body is a part of our identities since that is the first thing about our identities we show to others.
Ok, that was all from me, it's so nice that you have some interest in socialpsycology;)
kram!
my my what a bunch of cynics
there are some who do not work for the end dollar amount or to be able to buy the flashy car or afford to keep body beautiful gym fantatical blonde mistress's.
Self esteem plays a big part in work ethics - if you feel that your work ethic is a reflection on/of your personality and/or that your position within your peer group is reliant on that work ethic then you are going to go that little bit extra - not just for the bucks but the personal satisfaction
okay primarily we all work to pay the bills - fact of life no one can really dodge - even dole bludgers have to work at keeping the dole money coming in!
keeping up with the jones is more about being king of the jungle than survival.
a very materialsitc view of work seems to have emerged in this discussion - one does not need to earn money to "work" , there are plenty of volunteer organisations who are happy to have people "work" for nothing except their bed & board - surely that type of "work " would have to be the most purposefull around .and would ideally suit many peoples "posturing' on the meaning of life
i'm not too sure about the body beautiful being an open door to high positions in society (lets face it how many authority figures do you know who are good looking, in great shape and sexy?)- i think its more that these social high flyers have little of value to contibute to society, & that they believe that by being decorative they are giving the rest of us something beautiful, something to aspire to, something other than the day to day drudgery so many people endure.
just thought i d let you know that its about time you updated this blog - especially the profile(perhaps your still in canada in mind and spirit?) and the link to tilda communications - unless of course they have diversified to tea? or is it a rather obtuse way of saying tea for tilda?
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