I think the economic explanation is at the root of this. As they mentioned, long term employment is essentially gone.<p>In addition, things like pensions are no longer common except in the public sector. Add to that, the rise in cost of living relative to salaries and you end up with a situation where the work place is a very competitive environment.<p>We are competing with our coworkers for raises and advancement opportunities. Often this competition has an ugly under-belly, as it invariably involves criticism of coworkers&#x27; performance and self-promotion of one&#x27;s own work.