late 16th to 18th centuries European moral value systems took a heavy re-moulding by Protestantism, with its emphasis on work as the focal point of life and the road to salvation. Forswearing pleasure and frivolity was encouraged, and the attainment of money was seen as a sign that you were making fine headway into God’s good books. Large portions of society have had to work hard for millennia, but now work became something to be pursued for its own noble sake.
