An Advertising Test of the Work Ethic in the U.K. and the U.S.

Abstract Many social commentators in the U.K. and U.S. claim that their respective country is in economic decline, and that a major cause of this decline is the indigenous workforce's increased pursuit of leisure and affiliation rather than work and achievement. To test these commentators' causal claim, annual changes in the percent of U.K. and U.S. business magazines ads during the 1970s with work/achievement/leisure/affiliation themes were analyzed. The results suggest that the work ethic has not declined in either the U.K. or the U.S., and thus fail to support their claim.

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