A powerful closing. I think this is one reason why it's so hard for folks from rural backgrounds to advance. They were taught to serve the community above their own interests.
This is also a hard sell for many people who grow up in rural places: "The difference for American “big people” is that they don’t use ritualized gift-giving to generate their status; they hire you as a W-2 employee. Fear of being fired encourages you to honor the boss’ many eccentricities as an individual snowflake while suppressing your own desires in her presence (watch the Devil Wears Prada to see how this works at the extreme)."
My grandfather earned a middle-class living at a sawmill. He belonged to a labor union and went on strike multiple times for better wages and benefits. He was not a "company man." This is a mindset that I've found quite difficult to break. It often made me skeptical of college leaders while I was a professor, and it is a default setting that I find I don't really want to change at age 48. That doesn't mean I'm a raging individualist -- it means that I need to believe in more than a superior's power to feel invested in contributing to a team. The purpose that community provides is similar to the purpose that a healthy work environment can provide.
industrialization was the first mega blow to traditional community forms as German anthropologists and sociologists have noted…this inspired a lot of Tolkien’s fiction as well…my own grandfather was a Union carpenter and mad individualist/skeptic of companies. It took longer for capitalism, especially media-driven consumerism, to weaken family and neighborhoods though…to me that is the saddest development.
A powerful closing. I think this is one reason why it's so hard for folks from rural backgrounds to advance. They were taught to serve the community above their own interests.
This is also a hard sell for many people who grow up in rural places: "The difference for American “big people” is that they don’t use ritualized gift-giving to generate their status; they hire you as a W-2 employee. Fear of being fired encourages you to honor the boss’ many eccentricities as an individual snowflake while suppressing your own desires in her presence (watch the Devil Wears Prada to see how this works at the extreme)."
My grandfather earned a middle-class living at a sawmill. He belonged to a labor union and went on strike multiple times for better wages and benefits. He was not a "company man." This is a mindset that I've found quite difficult to break. It often made me skeptical of college leaders while I was a professor, and it is a default setting that I find I don't really want to change at age 48. That doesn't mean I'm a raging individualist -- it means that I need to believe in more than a superior's power to feel invested in contributing to a team. The purpose that community provides is similar to the purpose that a healthy work environment can provide.
industrialization was the first mega blow to traditional community forms as German anthropologists and sociologists have noted…this inspired a lot of Tolkien’s fiction as well…my own grandfather was a Union carpenter and mad individualist/skeptic of companies. It took longer for capitalism, especially media-driven consumerism, to weaken family and neighborhoods though…to me that is the saddest development.
Exactly.
I agree, and have written about this pretty extensively in Untrickled. Uncle Vance is going to be a disaster for our country.