An aspect of U.S. culture I want to explore, especially during my time abroad, is the culture around work. Our economic system in the United States is capitalism, so that means work is an integral part of how our society works. Because of capitalism, we have to work to buy the things we want and need. It becomes sort of an endless cycle. Life becomes reliant on work. On top of this, if you don’t work or work enough you get called lazy. Money has an incredible amount of value in our society. You can work hard to make enough money for a comfortable life, however the problem lies in opportunity. It can be objectively said that certain groups have less opportunity in America to excel in certain fields of work. I personally think that the balance between work and leisure in America is swayed in the wrong direction. We prioritize work, money really, over relaxation, leisure, and play. In a positive light, you can say that this attitude helps cultivate a responsible, capable, and hard working population. But, in countries with longer breaks and more holiday time, the people do work just as hard. The difference is: they have systems in place where prioritizing your mental health and physical wellbeing is possible. In America the minimum wage is much lower than some other countries, usually countries with socialist governments, which means to make more money you have to work more hours and much harder than another person in another country with the same exact job and responsibilities. I feel like a person in one of these countries would view this as unfair. Possibly even going so far as to say that the employees in America are treated as worker robots rather than humans with families to support and bills to pay. In certain jobs, usually in the service and hospitality field, that can be the case. Hours are long, pay is low and there is a general unappreciation for employees. So someone in another country would most certainly view this as something that’s not just unfair, but needs to be changed. I’d think maybe it could inspire some level of sympathy and/or horror because truly in some cases it’s really terrible. However, some people in other countries, particularly those in South Asia perhaps, would view our work culture as an upgrade from theirs. Because objectively it isn’t the worst, there are much worse work cultures within the world. To us it might seem bad, but to others it might seem more like a paradise (from the outside of course). I think this exercise has been good to view both the good and bad sides of work culture in America and will help me to prepare for the work culture abroad, as I want to look for a job while I’m there, which is why I chose to discuss this topic as well. I’m hoping by exploring my own views and biases about American work culture I can come to a sure conclusion about it while I’m abroad, as I compare my experience working in America and working in Australia.
