The "paying your dues" model is also strong in the US, particularly in our manufacturing sector. I work ancillary to the machinst population (as the guy they call when their machines break, basically), and most of thee guys are so gaslit about "paying your dues" that they won't take all their vacation time because they don't want to be perceived as the lazy guy in the shop. In the sane line, senior workers will berate younger newcomers for not knowing anything, rationalizing it by proclaiming they are self-taught, and the suffering brings discipline. After all, the senior workers believe they had to suffer at that age, so everyone else should, right? The who manufacturing population in the US is low on critical thinking, and thus ripe for all kinds of abuse.

Factory owners understand and exploit this. In one such instance that I found frightening, a shop I was visiting in MI had plastered posters up with messages to the effect of "you have a right to work, don't let anyone take it!" as though their governer's repeal of the Right to Work was somehow an attack on workers themselves, and not a gut punch to factory owners who are anti-union. These same owners will spout "nobody wants to work anymore" while offering a pitiful wage for jobs that demand years of experience, or special skills.

I see the gaslighting in everything from tiny 10-man shops to factories the size of small towns, and it is frightening how much power the owners have over this population through insighting fear and anger.