From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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-	A '''rat race''' is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a [[lab rat]] trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. In an [[analogy]] to the [[Global city|modern city]], many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately ''achieve nothing ([[Meaning of Life|meaningful]]) either collectively or individually''.	+
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-	''The rat race'' is a term often used to describe [[career|work]], particularly excessive work; in general terms, if one works too much, one is ''in the rat race''. This terminology contains implications that many people see work as a seemingly endless pursuit with little reward or purpose. Not all workers feel like that. For example, self-employment contributes to an increase in job satisfaction and the self-employed may experience less job related mental strain.	+
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-	The ''rat race'' also refers to the fierce competition involved in maintaining or improving one's position in the workplace or on the social ladder. This term presumably alludes to the rat's desperate struggle for survival. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]	+
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-	Urban planners often use the term 'rat racing' to describe behaviour by motorists who choose to travel to the most direct route by using secondary roads not intended for through [[traffic]].	+
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-	The increased image of work as a "rat race" in modern times has led many to question their own attitudes to work and seek a better alternative; a more harmonious [[Work-life balance]]. Many believe that long work hours, unpaid [[overtime]], [[Stress (medicine)|stressful jobs]], time spent [[commuting]], less time for family life and/or friends life, has led to a generally [[Unhappiness|unhappier]] [[workforce]]/[[population]] unable to enjoy the benefits of increased economic prosperity and a higher [[standard of living]].	+
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-	''Escaping the rat race'' can have a number of different meanings:	+
-	*A description of the movement, of either the ''Home'' or ''Work Location'', of previously ''City Dwellers'' or ''Workers'' to more [[rural]] locations	+
-	*[[Retirement]] in general or no longer needing / having to work.	+
-	*Moving from a high pressure job to a less intense role either at a different company or within the same company at an alternative location or department.	+
-	*Changing to a different job that does not involve working 9 to 6 and a long commute.	+
-	*[[Working from home]].	+
-	*Becoming [[Financial independence|financially independent]] from an employer.	+
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-	==Quotes==	+
-	*''The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.'' — commonly attributed to [[Lily Tomlin]] in ''People'' magazine (26 Dec 1977)[http://questler.com/explore/quest/view/1066], but according to The Yale Book of Quotations (Shapiro & Epstein, p. 767), Rosalie Maggio in The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women states that [[William Sloane Coffin]] said "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat" as chaplain of Williams College or Yale University in the 1950s or 1960s. [http://books.google.com/books?id=w5-GR-qtgXsC&pg=PA767&lpg=PA767&dq=%22The+trouble+with+the+rat+race+is+that+even+if+you+win,+you're+still+a+rat.%22&source=bl&ots=1XNNaRtm7O&sig=kN9-P_R_KUrU2MXDap3ky0EF37Q&hl=en&ei=2oehSZSOHeCbtwfF4cWTDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result]	+
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-	*''"That is real freedom. That is being educated, and understanding how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the rat race, the constant gnawing sense of having had, and lost, some infinite thing."'' [[David Foster Wallace]] in his Commencement Address at Kenyon College. Gambier, Ohio. May 21, 2005.	+
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-	*''"A rat race is for rats. We are not rats. We are human beings. Reject the insidious pressures of society that would blunt your critical faculties to all the happenings around you that would caution silence in the face of injustices lest you jeopardize your changes of promotions and self advancement. This is how it starts and before you know where you are you are a fully-paid up member of the rat pack. The price is too high. It entails a loss of your dignity and human spirit." [[Jimmy Reid]], [[Glasgow University]] rectoral address, 1972	+
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-	==See also==	+
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-	* ''[[The Myth of Sisyphus]]'', an essay by [[Albert Camus]]	+
-	* [[Sisyphus]], a [[Greek mythology|Greek mythological]] figure	+
-	* [[Work–life balance|Work-life balance]]	+
-	* [[Economic sociology]]	+
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