Thread by @youngLDSfems

The Protestant work ethic is prevalent, particularly in American society. An article from the Pacific Standard discusses a Dutch study on its existence.
psmag.com/economics/prot…

“Protestants suffer intense hardship from unemployment; the ‘psychic harm from unemployment is about 40 percent worse for Protestants than for the general population,’ according to the authors. This also holds true for non-Protestants living in Protestant countries."

“The old Calvinist doctrine of a livelihood as the source of one’s value, and a sign of God’s favor, wreaks great havoc on people’s lives when that livelihood is gone.”

“What’s more, this is true even when people practice other religions (or none at all) in largely Protestant countries. They experience the same impulses. What this really indicates is just how important Protestantism is to our concept of work—all of our concepts of work.”

“As hard workers attempted to prosper in business in order to show that they were God’s chosen ones, over time hard work became the object in itself, particularly in the United States.”

The Church more or less embraces this work ethic. In fact, the Protestant version is even mentioned in Encyclopedia of Mormonism: “The Latter-day Saint work ethic is similar to the Protestant work ethic regarding the central role of work in a devout life” eom.byu.edu/index.php/Work…

In that same section, the encyclopedia adds, “In the Church no individual who is able to work is excused from working.” eom.byu.edu/index.php/Work…

(Now, granted, it adds “who is able,” but more often than not the assumption is that everyone is able, when, given this conversation, that’s not true.)

And even though the encyclopedia is outdated, a July 2011 Ensign article entitled “Work is an Eternal Principle” still references it. lds.org/study/ensign/2…

Doing work--of any sort, but often self improvement--is an inherent part of both our society as well as our religion. It’s no wonder that it can be a huge struggle especially for those with mental illness.

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