[lbo-talk] Why Is America So Violent?

[Mr. WD]

> I wonder also if our expectations aren't higher now (and I offer this
> tentatively and speculatively). Back in the day, people expected a
> life of drudgery or something approximating it; work on the farm or
> in the factory was draining, and you were damn glad to have a job.
> The home was a place of arranged marriages and a gaggle of kids. Now,
> after the social revolutions of the 1960s, we want meaningful work
> and rich personal relationships. Since life, especially capitalist
> life, will always fall short of these expectations, we feel cheated
> and stressed.

To add to that speculation, since the 60s there has also been an ethos
of personal fulfillment and improvement.  The exercise/gym movement
seems to have benefited from this (also from the decline of more
manufacturing jobs that may have offered more of an on the job
workout).  There is a new obligation to refine both the body and mind
-- and a huge range of services that each tout themselves as an
integral part of your personal improvement project.  Then, of course,
there is also the corresponding obligation parents have to schedule
personal improvement/college resume building activities for their
kids.

For many people, I am sure, these activities -- while not
income-generating -- are still experienced as work.  Hence the
self-reporting of more work stress and less leisure time.

-WD