By "men", I assume you're switching between "male humans" and "whoever controls society". Yes, society has been happy for male humans to work themselves to death. Maybe it's patriarchy, maybe it's their families who benefit from the resources they bring back.

It's not entirely unheard of for men to do things for their family. It's not uncommon for women to do this either. If stereotypes have any accuracy, men tend to be willing to do an awful lot to impress women (e.g. "happy wife, happy life").