Today we often encounter the controversial cultural belief (especially in the U.S.) that poor people are lazy. This attitude likely emerged due to a number of factors: the Protestant work ethic, the American Dream (the belief that anyone can achieve something through hard work), and the wide availability of government welfare programs that appear to facilitate economic dependence.

However, if we were to go back to the 19th century we would encounter very different cultural attitudes, especially in Europe. Back then, it would have been obvious to anyone that rich people are lazy, and that poor people are hardworking. That’s because poor people had to labor incessantly to survive, whereas the wealthy could afford to hire others to do work for them. The freedom from constant labor was the benefit of being rich.

In Europe, a person’s wealth and status was often determined by birth. Those born into lower classes were destined to a life of hard labor, without hope of being able to move up the ladder.

In 1886, Leo Tolstoy wrote:

In our society, it is only in the rarest of cases that money represents the work of its owner. Almost always it represents the labor of other men – the past or future labors of men.

As capitalism emerged and urbanization progressed, the door was opened for more people to enjoy a life of luxury. In America, titans of industry discovered that they could obtain the wealth and power of kings without having been born into a royal family. Over time, attitudes began to shift. Wealth became a sign of hard work and poverty became a sign of laziness.

We need to keep in mind a significant difference between then and now. In the 19th century, the economy was still very labor-intensive. Labor was a great equalizer. If you worked harder, you could obtain more, but the only way to obtain large amounts of wealth was by inheriting it. Farming was the biggest industry. There were few social safety nets. If you did not work and you didn’t have money, you would have to either beg for charity or starve.

Today our economy is capital-intensive. Hard work may bring a certain measure of wealth and prosperity, but real wealth and power come from ownership of capital.

In our modern economy, does money represent the labor of those who possess it? That’s a difficult question to answer. That’s because wealth comes from a combination of factors: the circumstances a person was born into, skills and education, access to capital, connections, ability to hustle, position on the corporate ladder, as well as hard work.

Plus, the amount of money that a person is paid in a free market economy is based on the market value of that labor. Sports players earn millions of dollars, but can we honestly say that they worked hard to earn that money? Do CEOs really earn the huge salaries they receive?

The situation is hardly black and white. Today one thing is for certain: we can’t assume that being rich or poor has anything to do with how hard one works.