Re: Why Is America So Violent?
On May 12, 2007, at 4:50 PM, James Heartfield wrote:
There is however, another explanation, which I derive from David Wainwright’s book Work Stress, which suggests that there is also a
social trend that alters our subjective experience of work pressures.
Wainwright says that we are subjectively more fragile, and experience
pressures on time and performance much more acutely than our parents’ generation.
(Wainwright gives an extensive explanation of why this might be, dwelling on the diminution of social networks that help us deal with problems.)
This sounds interesting. I used to believe the overwork hypothesis,
but I’ve changed my mind. So it’s nice to see some thinking about why
people feel so stressed, even if overwork isn’t confirmed in the time
use surveys. Similarly, the sense of greater volatility in employment
isn’t really confirmed by the job tenure stats, at least in the U.S.
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.
Doug
May 13th, 2007 at 5:52 am
America is so Violent because so many Criminals from other Countrys come here for their milk and hony, with the Political Correctness today no one has the nerve to do a study on how many non Americans commit crimes, and even if someone did who ever reported it in the Media would be called a Racist and a Bigot.We did not have all these crimes in 1950 why…. we were mostly all Americans but those who were not were stiii self assimilated. And lastly we did not have a Democratic Party that is Anti American.