SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Binyamin Appelbaum writes at the NYT that the share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent as many men have decided that low-wage work will not improve their lives, in part because deep changes in American society have made it easier for them to live without working. These changes include the availability of federal disability benefits; the decline of marriage, which means fewer men provide for children; and the rise of the Internet, which has reduced the isolation of unemployment. Technology has made unemployment less lonely says Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, who argues that the Internet allows men to entertain themselves and find friends and sexual partners at a much lower cost than did previous generations. Perhaps most important, it has become harder for men to find higher-paying jobs as foreign competition and technological advances have eliminated many of the jobs open to high school graduates. The trend was pushed to new heights by the last recession, with 20 percent of prime-age men not working in 2009 before partly receding. But the recovery is unlikely to be complete. "Like turtles flipped onto their backs, many people who stop working struggle to get back on their feet," writes Appelbaum. "Some people take years to return to the work force, and others never do "
A study published in October by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies estimated that 37 percent of the decline in male employment since 1979 can be explained by this retreat from marriage and fatherhood (PDF). “When the legal, entry-level economy isn’t providing a wage that allows someone a convincing and realistic option to become an adult — to go out and get married and form a household — it demoralizes them and shunts them into illegal economies,” says Philippe Bourgois, an anthropologist who has studied the lives of young men in urban areas. “It’s not a choice that has made them happy. They would much rather be adults in a respectful job that pays them and promises them benefits.”
(Score: 2) by Pav on Tuesday December 16 2014, @01:02AM
It's strange how these things work. First it's the delusion of self reliance and pondering their own superiority. The collapse of society from below just confirms these ideas right up until the flame-front reaches them, and if the 1920's is any example they often throw themselves from tall buildings. Why? In creating a world-view that rejects others less fortunate they've rejected their current selves. The upshot is that those that survive and rise from the ashes are wiser - witness the birth of the welfare state, financial regulation etc... etc...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @07:29AM
It is funny how the ones who talk of societal upheaval and reformation speak with such hubris as if they, naturally, would not be part of the fall from grace.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 18 2014, @12:48AM
witness the birth of the welfare state, financial regulation etc... etc...
Which in my view are solid counterexamples to your assertion of wisdom gained. A world-view is created which rejects perceived risk and pain no matter how much harm that inflicts on society. Welfare is expensive, particularly the sort of welfare that could be provided by the citizens themselves. Such systems can easily be gamed and corrupted by the politically connected. Sure. there's a few societies that haven't gone to seed by doing this, but there are a lot of societies that have. Then you get articles like the one of this story.