Advances in gene sequencing and brain scanning technologies are continually threatening the human notion of free will, and the smart money appears to be on us coming to the uncomfortable realization that we have a lot less control over our actions, behaviors, and abilities than we think we do, sooner rather than later.
That said, it's encouraging to find that over two-thirds of Americans, when questioned on what it takes to get ahead, assert that hard work is more important than are lucky circumstances or getting help from others. At the individual level, the belief in the efficacy of personal effort is a benefit, a beneficent lie to the extent that it is overemphasized. What good does it do for someone of limited ability and prospects to languish in self-pity or resentment, resigning himself to a dismal, effortless existence because he knows the game is fixed, and so what's the point in trying?
There are inherent dangers in believing effort is everything, especially for those who have won life's lottery. If someone of nearly limitless potential decides to coast on his early accomplishments, having attained a bachelor's degree from State U and currently making $80,000 a year in a comfortable job, reasoning that "Hey, I'm doing better than most people, and that's pretty good, right?", the world is the poorer for it. More pithily, if accomplishments are exclusively the products of personal effort, the venerable words from Luke--that "from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked"--lose much of their meaning.
There is also the problem of people having unrealistic expectations about success, the idea that any child is capable of becoming an astronaut or the future president of the US, as NCLB illustrates. But a more pressing concern to me seems to be the sense of entitlement that has infected Western civilization, the sense that everyone deserves a prestigious, fun existence and lots of material accouterments to accompany it without having to do much of anything to earn them.
The declaration that two-in-three Americans believe hard work is paramount in getting ahead in life comes from a GSS question that reads "Some people say that people get ahead by their own hard work; others say that lucky breaks of help from other people are more important. Which do you think is most important?" The three possible answers are "hard work", "both equally", and "luck or help". It's a question that is posed to a huge swath of participants, so sample sizes are large across the board. The following table shows a self-determination index (SDI) score, computed by taking the percentage of respondents who say hard work is more important and subtracting from it the percentage of respondents who say "luck or help" is more important. For contemporary relevance, all responses are from 2000 onward:
The largest differences are racial, political, and theological. Intelligence, educational attainment (though the academic world's emphasis on the powerlessness of the individual and the heavy influence of societal forces beyond the individual's control shouldn't be discounted in the observation that those with less education put more emphasis on the value of hard work than those with more education do), sex, age, and whether or not you were born in the country do not factor in much.
I'm not surprised to find that blacks, many of whom are enmeshed in the idea that white society is forever holding them down, and Asians, who despite doing well, seem strangely fascinated by luck or the lack thereof, take a more cynical view of the value of hard work than whites do. That Hispanics and Native Americans actually believe in the importance of effort a little more than whites do is more unexpected. To offer an explanation after the fact, Amerindians have lower levels of self-esteem and are less braggadocios than blacks and whites are, so perhaps they're more willing to accept the fact that while hard work is helpful, they don't always possess the will to work very hard themselves.
The political shake out is predictable. Liberals and Democrats are more inclined towards the idea that people are a product of societal forces beyond their control and consequently there is a need for a powerful central government to right societal wrongs and redistribute wealth in an equitable manner. Conservatives and Republicans are closer to the Ron Paul message of individual liberty and personal responsibility, viewing government as a nefarious force that punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty.
Somewhat ironically, those who believe in God are more likely to feel that it's up to oneself to make it in the world, even as they pray for blessings and assistance from above, while atheists and agnostics feel that a person has relatively little control over his circumstances in life.
Parenthetically, the slight increase in the belief in hard work among the young tracks with the gentle trend over the four decades that the GSS has asked the question for people to increasingly respond that hard work more than luck is more important in determining whether or not a person gets ahead in life.
GSS variables used: GETAHEAD(1-3), YEAR(2000-2010), SEX, RACECEN1(1)(2)(3)(4-10)(15-16), GOD(1)(2)(3-5)(6), POLVIEWS(1-2)(3-5)(6-7), PARTYID(0-1)(2-4)(5-6), BORN, WORDSUM(see *), EDUC(0-11)(12)(13-15)(16-17)(18-20)
* Respondents are broken up into five categories; Really Smarts (wordsum score of 9-10, comprising 13% of the population), Pretty Smarts (7-8, 26%), Normals (6, 22%), Pretty Dumbs (4-5, 27%), and Real Dumbs (0-3, 12%)
That said, it's encouraging to find that over two-thirds of Americans, when questioned on what it takes to get ahead, assert that hard work is more important than are lucky circumstances or getting help from others. At the individual level, the belief in the efficacy of personal effort is a benefit, a beneficent lie to the extent that it is overemphasized. What good does it do for someone of limited ability and prospects to languish in self-pity or resentment, resigning himself to a dismal, effortless existence because he knows the game is fixed, and so what's the point in trying?
There are inherent dangers in believing effort is everything, especially for those who have won life's lottery. If someone of nearly limitless potential decides to coast on his early accomplishments, having attained a bachelor's degree from State U and currently making $80,000 a year in a comfortable job, reasoning that "Hey, I'm doing better than most people, and that's pretty good, right?", the world is the poorer for it. More pithily, if accomplishments are exclusively the products of personal effort, the venerable words from Luke--that "from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked"--lose much of their meaning.
There is also the problem of people having unrealistic expectations about success, the idea that any child is capable of becoming an astronaut or the future president of the US, as NCLB illustrates. But a more pressing concern to me seems to be the sense of entitlement that has infected Western civilization, the sense that everyone deserves a prestigious, fun existence and lots of material accouterments to accompany it without having to do much of anything to earn them.
The declaration that two-in-three Americans believe hard work is paramount in getting ahead in life comes from a GSS question that reads "Some people say that people get ahead by their own hard work; others say that lucky breaks of help from other people are more important. Which do you think is most important?" The three possible answers are "hard work", "both equally", and "luck or help". It's a question that is posed to a huge swath of participants, so sample sizes are large across the board. The following table shows a self-determination index (SDI) score, computed by taking the percentage of respondents who say hard work is more important and subtracting from it the percentage of respondents who say "luck or help" is more important. For contemporary relevance, all responses are from 2000 onward:
| Group | SDI |
| Race | |
| Whites | 58.4 |
| Blacks | 47.7 |
| Native Americans | 61.6 |
| Asians | 51.9 |
| Hispanics | 62.2 |
| IQ | |
| Really smarts | 54.1 |
| Pretty smarts | 54.8 |
| Normals | 62.3 |
| Pretty Dumbs | 56.4 |
| Real Dumbs | 59.4 |
| Age | |
| 18-29 | 60.0 |
| 30-44 | 57.8 |
| 45-64 | 55.5 |
| 65+ | 53.0 |
| Political orientation | |
| Liberal | 49.7 |
| Moderate | 56.1 |
| Conservative | 64.3 |
| Partisan affiliation | |
| Democrat | 54.6 |
| Independent | 54.5 |
| Republican | 62.9 |
| Sex | |
| Male | 54.0 |
| Female | 59.2 |
| Birthplace | |
| US native | 56.8 |
| Foreign-born | 56.0 |
| Theism | |
| Atheist | 45.5 |
| Agnostic | 42.4 |
| Uncertain believer | 52.0 |
| Firm believer | 60.9 |
| Educational attainment | |
| Less than high school | 59.9 |
| High school grad | 58.0 |
| Some college | 55.8 |
| Bachelor's degree | 55.2 |
| Post-secondary work | 52.5 |
The largest differences are racial, political, and theological. Intelligence, educational attainment (though the academic world's emphasis on the powerlessness of the individual and the heavy influence of societal forces beyond the individual's control shouldn't be discounted in the observation that those with less education put more emphasis on the value of hard work than those with more education do), sex, age, and whether or not you were born in the country do not factor in much.
I'm not surprised to find that blacks, many of whom are enmeshed in the idea that white society is forever holding them down, and Asians, who despite doing well, seem strangely fascinated by luck or the lack thereof, take a more cynical view of the value of hard work than whites do. That Hispanics and Native Americans actually believe in the importance of effort a little more than whites do is more unexpected. To offer an explanation after the fact, Amerindians have lower levels of self-esteem and are less braggadocios than blacks and whites are, so perhaps they're more willing to accept the fact that while hard work is helpful, they don't always possess the will to work very hard themselves.
The political shake out is predictable. Liberals and Democrats are more inclined towards the idea that people are a product of societal forces beyond their control and consequently there is a need for a powerful central government to right societal wrongs and redistribute wealth in an equitable manner. Conservatives and Republicans are closer to the Ron Paul message of individual liberty and personal responsibility, viewing government as a nefarious force that punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty.
Somewhat ironically, those who believe in God are more likely to feel that it's up to oneself to make it in the world, even as they pray for blessings and assistance from above, while atheists and agnostics feel that a person has relatively little control over his circumstances in life.
Parenthetically, the slight increase in the belief in hard work among the young tracks with the gentle trend over the four decades that the GSS has asked the question for people to increasingly respond that hard work more than luck is more important in determining whether or not a person gets ahead in life.
GSS variables used: GETAHEAD(1-3), YEAR(2000-2010), SEX, RACECEN1(1)(2)(3)(4-10)(15-16), GOD(1)(2)(3-5)(6), POLVIEWS(1-2)(3-5)(6-7), PARTYID(0-1)(2-4)(5-6), BORN, WORDSUM(see *), EDUC(0-11)(12)(13-15)(16-17)(18-20)
* Respondents are broken up into five categories; Really Smarts (wordsum score of 9-10, comprising 13% of the population), Pretty Smarts (7-8, 26%), Normals (6, 22%), Pretty Dumbs (4-5, 27%), and Real Dumbs (0-3, 12%)
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