Protestant work ethic

Cultural  

1. A view of life that promotes hard work and self-discipline as a means to material prosperity. It is called Protestant because some Protestant groups believe that such prosperity is a sign of God's grace.

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Protestant work ethic

The weakening of America’s Protestant work ethic, to use a contested but irreplaceable phrase, is a complicated story, but you could trace its beginnings to the 1960s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Moyes, 53, credits her Protestant work ethic for her success, which was evident from an early age.

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2023

Watching movies like "Double Indemnity," "Easy Rider" and "Office Space," you might think Americans had never heard of the Protestant work ethic – the spirit of sacrifice and delayed gratification that helped build capitalism.

From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2022

This gripe demonstrates how deeply we’ve absorbed the Protestant work ethic and its assertion that people should want to work for the sake of their own virtue, regardless of material conditions and compensation.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 27, 2021

Or a commitment to the Protestant work ethic?

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides