My grandparents and parents used to spout idioms like, "hard work is its own reward" as if they were inalienable truths.
IMO it's baked in at a cultural level, at this point. Where did it come from? You could point to the harsh Puritan work ethic, or the myth of meritocracy, or the rivers of blood lurking in the US' past, but there's probably no single root cause.
> My grandparents and parents used to spout idioms like, "hard work is its own reward" as if they were inalienable truths.
Are you grandparents representatives of capitalism?
I am sure if you go to the most socialist or communist country out there, you will find grandparents saying the same thing. Source: me, I come from one such country.
