East Asian countries ethic of hard work being inherent in culture; largely responsible for their prosperity? (renting, high school)
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Disclaimer: I didn't post this in the Asian forum because I wanted to compare the region to the rest of the world...
Or would you say it's other reason? I mean it's a combination of factors, but many have said that Asian nations like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China and now Vietnam, which are more influenced by Chinese culture/Confucian values.etc are successful primarily due to a strong work ethic. They often contrast it to nations like India or Latin America which appear to be behind.
In other words, do you think that hard work is really something inherent in the culture? Or rather, MORESO than other nations, or really just the same? And do you think this is why these countries - the well known Four Asian Tigers are first world now, compared to much of Asia? China is a different case, but even now China seems rising a lot. These countries are all associated with having a stressful, competitive culture, kids who are really pushed (and perform well), and workaholic careers...
I personally think it might play a small role, but it's certainly not unique to these cultures. Europe of course couldn't be where it was now if not for the same reason, or the United State's 'Protestant work ethic.' For instance a lot of Koreans and Vietnamese here seem to be shop-owners, and many work 7 days a week. I've often heard them contrasted towards say Cambodians or something in the US too.
Each country has a different situation, so it's not something you can truly measure scientifically I suppose, but I was wondering about your generalised opinions...I think all rose from being ravaged by poor/being pretty poor to developed economies with a real capitalist spirit. A dictatorial government often helped things a long, but one that was also rather benevolent and at least concerned with the country's welfare.
The Protestant Work Ethic was first used to try and explain why it was the Western, Protestant, nations that first developed capitalism to start with. The Puritan ethic where hard work was seen as a divine calling and related to one's salvation was seen as unique in the world at the time. Of course, at the time, many East Asian nations were not yet industrialized at all, so the west did seem exceptional. It's funny and ironic because at the time, there were many scholars who thought Eastern civilizations wouldn't industrialize because they lacked this. Not everyone takes these ideas seriously in sociology though anymore.
East Asian nations' competitive, workaholic culture probably developed in response to the West anyways. They wanted to "catch up" with the West, that was already industrialized and prosperous.
Also, are Indians or Latin Americans any less industrious? Latin-American and Indian immigrants to the US seem pretty hard working to me.
I don't know about American, European or East Asian culture particularly inherently being more hard-working. Some of these attitudes about work (how many hours it is appropriate to work in a day, what's the right work-life balance) really only became a thing after industrialization anyways, as most people in history worked hand-to-mouth for thousands of years. After all, it's only after a country industrialized and prospers that we look back and try and find explanations for its success anyway.
"Protestand Work Ethic" is quite a myth honestly considering that Banking and Finance were born in Italy, that Italy was until XVI century richer than most of Europe, that France has always in top-3 of Biggest World Power and is Catholic, considering that hardly UK has this "Protestant" work ethich as a reason to explain its success.
"Protestand Work Ethic" is quite a myth honestly considering that Banking and Finance were born in Italy, that Italy was until XVI century richer than most of Europe, that France has always in top-3 of Biggest World Power and is Catholic, considering that hardly UK has this "Protestant" work ethich as a reason to explain its success.
Yeah I always wondered exactly what Protestantism had with that capitalistic ethic of work for work's sake...
It starts with parenting in my opinion. Asian parents really push/force their children to work hard in school, take honors/IB etc classes and that is why they usually do well in life in fields that are objective like being a doctor, accountant etc.
My uncle was a high school principle and he would say that the Asian parents were the most critical. They wanted to lecture him, while the least critical were African American parents, where my uncle often felt like he wanted to give them a lecture.
If it had anything to do with inherent culture, they would have started before 1950. At the time of the Korean War, Korea might have been the poorest, most backward country in Asia. The Taiwanese and the Chinese were/are the same people, but there was a huge difference in the motivational thrust that started the trajectory of their economies.
People in typical agricultural societies tend to be hardworking and self-disciplined.
When it is time to plow, to sow, to weed, to reap, you must do it; otherwise you starve. There is no freedom to make any choice.
In East Asia, summer tends to be long and hot (compared to Europe), and people have to work in the sun for long hours.
Many scholars say the quality of life in agricultural societies is even lower than that in hunting-gathering societies, in some aspects. Because farmers work much longer than hunters and gatherers, and often eat low-protein food.
It's the competition.
Plus they value intellectuals more than goofy ass celebs and athletes.
You don't get bullied for being a nerd in those countries.
I think the U.S. is starting to be that way now more, too. Valuing the nerd.
I still think the he majority of East Asia is poor because of China outside of the first 3 cities. Not to mention if you throw in Vietnam the region isn’t that wealthy overall, it only has really wealthy areas like SK, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore (Although it isn’t in East Asia is made up of mostly East Asians) and Tiānjīn, Beijing and Shanghai. These areas make up 278 million people out of 1,750 million, or 16% of East Asia being actually developed.
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