tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post6399005420211893359..comments2023-10-25T02:52:26.716-07:00Comments on Tzimiskes: Has Our Work Ethic Changed?Tzimiskeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-13269909543062189402011-12-26T07:22:24.212-08:002011-12-26T07:22:24.212-08:00I'd certainly agree that there is an empirical...I'd certainly agree that there is an empirical question there. As a point of comparison though, I had a poor black farming village in the south in mind, not a poor white kid. I had in mind some poverty reading I had been doing a few months ago, black poverty used to be primarily concentrated in rural areas, particularly in the south, today it is concentrated in urban areas. The interesting thing is this was accomplished as part of a large emigration from rural areas, the people poor today are the children of individuals sufficiently motivated to uproot themselves and move into new areas to seek new opportunities. It's a strange story to claim it is a lack of a work ethic that condemns people to today's urban ghettos when they are the descendents of people that moved there seeking more rewarding employment.<br /><br />There still is an empirical question, but it gets muddied by the possibility of the cultural factor preventing employment being located in the employer rather than the employee. Today's urban ghettos are the result of people trying to work hard and failing, if the problem is cultural whose culture is it causing the problem? It may not be the culture of those in the ghetto.Tzimiskeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-56619759416484782412011-12-19T07:11:26.536-08:002011-12-19T07:11:26.536-08:00I think you do a pretty good job of identifying an...I think you do a pretty good job of identifying and unpacking Gingrich's message (I once saw him say that one of his proposals called for teaching frugality to poor people). But I'm not so sure that the work ethic of someone in a rural 50's town is necessarily exposed to the same influences as a poor urban kid today. Your claim to that effect seems to be a deserved rejection of the idea that that is CERTAINLY untrue, but I think you take it too far in ignoring other cultural externalities, such as the level of hopelessness around him and a perception of his own chance of success. Let's be honest: if a white rural kid perceives that he can transcend his station easier than a poor black urban kid, ceteris parabus, he's right because he's already white. This discussion is tough to have without basing a lot off of empirical evidence, and that's mine.Lenny DeFrancohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15221384643271005131noreply@blogger.com