Some workers believe upward mobility depends on personal internal conviction.

Evidence

Contrast these views with those of Johnson, a plumber, who says, “I feel someday I’ll be better off. I feel that way because I believe I have it within me to do it”; and with Flynn, a white collar worker, who answers: … No, I’m nowhere near satisfied. It seems to me every time I start to move up a little bit, all the levels move up one step ahead of me. I can’t ever get out of this area. I have a certain desire and willingness to do something extra. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2177

Categorization

• XREF: Flynn’s treadmill metaphor closely parallels the Red Queen effect and hedonic treadmill concepts in social psychology. — connects to: Merit-based career ladders face deliberate technical barriers to upward mobility. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 234