Value Free and The Creative Class

In John B. Jusis' article "Value Free" he mentions that there is a positive corroloation between changes in morality and changes in the economy. He makes a statement that "78 percent of Americans believe that the morals of young Americans have declined." In reality morality is just changing. In the past morality was considered to be self-less and think of denying oneself of pleasure such as sex. Moderen reallity is a more liberal aproach to life. There are less limits.



In the past as economy changed (via wars, industrial revolution, overproduction) morality of Americans changed as well. Before these economic changes occured many went by the Protestant Work Ethic. This work ethic's goal was happiness in the afterlife. All of life's actions were to better the afterlife. This being said workers saved what they earned and denied themselves of unneeded pleasures. As the economy changed so did these values.



In the modern moral lifestyle, American workers had a completely different view than the Protestant Work Ethic. The modern view was more for self-fulfillment than self-denial. It also was about this life not the next. The modern view is about the consumer, spend and be merry all that you can in this life because the next life is unsure. This liberal lifestyle, as shown by the recent recession, does not seem very effective.



My own personal opinion, a mix of both the modern and protestant ethics would be effective. We don't need to be so strict as to deny oneself of pleasures but maybe we need a little self-control. We need to be the consumer and buy but not splurge so much that if an accident would occur we wouldn't have enough saved. I believe, especially now, that we need to save and not spend on useless items we don't need but concentrate on fixing the issues we have. I also think we need to filter some of the wealth down from greedy CEO's who have so much money they don't know what to do with it.



Overall the morality has changed with the economy. Whether it has changed for the better or worse I am unsure. Morality will always change from generation to generation and as far as the economy goes, well right now I hope it gets much better.