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Add faith in the work ethic and in capitalism to the lengthening list of casualties from the Great Recession. Four years after the Lehman Brothers’ fiasco and the ensuing global economic downturn, the idea that effort in a competitive economy can lead to success is seriously questioned in a number of major economies, including Japan, Russia and Greece, especially among those who have suffered the most.

In eight of 21 countries recently surveyed by the Pew Research Center, fewer than half believe hard work is a guarantee of success for most people. And in 11 of the 16 nations for which there is trend data since 2007, before the financial crisis began, support for capitalism is down. A notable exception is the United States, where 77 percent of the public still thinks that effort leads to accomplishment and 67 percent have confidence in free markets.

With worries mounting about a double dip global recession, attention has rightly focused on the potential human cost of such a renewed slump. But the low levels of belief that work leads to economic success, especially in a competitive economy, could imperil the rebound from any economic slowdown.

Read the full commentary at CNN’s Global Public Square blog

People feel much better about the state of their personal economic situation than they do about national economic conditions. In 16 of 21 countries people are significantly more likely to say their economic condition is good than to say their country’s economy is doing well.

This is particularly true in Spain (51 percentage point difference), Britain (49 points) and France (46 points). Only in China are people far more upbeat about the national economy than they are about their own finances.

Among those who feel the most satisfied about their own economic well-being include the Brazilians (75%), the Germans (74%) and the Chinese (69%). If there was any doubt that a college education pays off: in 15 nations, people with a college degree were more satisfied with their economic situation than were those who did not have a college education.

Nevertheless, the global economic crisis has exacted a heavy toll on some people’s perception of their personal economic situation. In five of the 15 nations where there is comparable data, people’s sense of their own finances has deteriorated to a significant degree since 2008, especially in Pakistan (down 19 points), Poland (down 18 points) and Spain (down 11 points). The greatest improvements in awareness of individual economic wellbeing since 2008 have been in Turkey (up 20 points) and Germany (up seven points).

Few Better Off Than Five Years Ago

People may think their personal situation is better than economic conditions in their nation, but only in Brazil (72%) and China (70%) do large majorities think their families are better off than they were five years ago. On balance, Indians (50%) and Turks (43%) also say their situations have improved.

However, majorities or pluralities in 9 nations say their family financial situation has deteriorated. Solid majorities hold this view in Greece (81%), Spain (60%) and Pakistan (57%), as do at least four-in-ten in Lebanon, Italy, France, Britain, the Czech Republic, Japan, Egypt and Poland.

Grim Prospects for the Kids

Faith in upward economic mobility is abysmal all over the world. Only in China (57%) does a majority believe that it will be easy for young people today to become wealthier or to get a better job than their parents. The Europeans are the most pessimistic about their children’s chances of climbing the economic ladder.

Eight-in-ten or more in Britain, Japan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Egypt, the U.S., Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic say it is difficult for young people to become as economically successful as their parents.

Such pessimism is particularly strong in Greece, where 73% say it will be very difficult for today’s kids to advance economically, Spain (69% very difficult) and Pakistan (65% very difficult).

Doing Better than the Last Generation

Despite their gloom about their current economic situation and their pessimism about their children’s prospects, people generally believe that they are better off than their parents. Majorities in 14 of the 21 countries and pluralities in three more think they are doing better than the previous generation.

Those most pleased with how far they have come economically are the Chinese (92%) and the Brazilians (81%). Even 71% of the Spanish, whose economic mood is among the worst in the world, whose economic confidence has fallen more than any other country in the wake of the global downturn and who are among the most pessimistic about prospects for the next generation, still recognize they have come a long way.

But young people ages 18-to-29 in Britain, France, Spain, Russia, Italy and Greece are much less likely than those 50 and older to think they have a better standard of living than their parents. Nevertheless, in Mexico and Tunisia, those under 30 are more likely to think they have a better standard of living than their parents.

The idea that hard work leads to material success is no longer, if it ever was, a uniquely Western value.

Half or more in 13 of the 21 nations surveyed believe that most people can succeed if they are willing to work hard. This includes Pakistan (81%) and the U.S. (77%). It also includes Tunisia (73%), Brazil (69%), India (67%) and Mexico (65%).

But faith in the work ethic is particularly weak in Lebanon, where only 32% of the public anticipates rewards from hard work, and in Russia (35%), Japan (40%), Italy (43%) and Greece (43%), all countries that have suffered greatly from the recent economic downturn. There is also little confidence in hard work in China (45%), despite the fact that it has economically outperformed every country in this Global Attitudes survey.

The Germans are beneficiaries of a relatively strong economy in recent years and the people most other Europeans think are the hardest workers in Europe (See the recent Global Attitudes report “European Unity on the Rocks,” released May 29, 2012). But Germans are divided about the value of hard work: 51% think hard work leads to success, 48% think it is no guarantee. West Germans are more likely to believe in the rewards of labor than are East Germans, who have in recent years experienced higher unemployment than their western counterparts.

Those who have had personal economic achievement in life tend to believe that hard work leads to success. High income individuals, especially in Britain, Russia and Egypt, are significantly more likely than low income earners in those countries to say most people can get ahead if they apply themselves. However, there is no meaningful difference in such attitudes between the rich and the poor in Brazil, Turkey and Tunisia, where half or more of the population values hard work whatever their income.

Meanwhile, people facing hard times in Europe and Japan, but notably not elsewhere, have lost faith in the work ethic. Half or more of those who say their personal economic situation is not good also think hard work is no guarantee of success in Japan (65%), France (63%), Germany (62%) Britain (53%), Greece (53%), Poland (53%) and the Czech Republic (52%). Notably, however, in most countries outside the industrial world the work ethic has not lost its appeal, even among those who are suffering economically. In Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Mexico, half or more of those who say their personal finances are not faring well still believe that hard work can bring economic success.

Capitalism Less Appealing

Faith in capitalism is another victim of the Great Recession. In just 13 of the 21 nations surveyed, half or more agree with the statement that people are better off in a free market economy even though some people are rich and some are poor.

Support for capitalism is greatest in Brazil (75%), China (74%), Germany (69%) (although East Germans are less supportive than West Germans) and the U.S. (67%). The biggest skeptics of the free market can be found in Mexico (34%) and Japan (38%).

But in nine of the 16 countries for which there is trend data since 2007, before the financial crisis began, support for capitalism is down, with the greatest declines in Italy (down 23 percentage points) and Spain (down 20 points).

In most countries, people’s personal economic experience shapes their view of the free market. Those who are suffering are less likely to think people are better off under capitalism than are those who are well off. This is particularly the case in Russia (a 31 percentage point gap), Poland (30 points), China (26 points) and Japan (25 points).

In the U.S. and in four of the eight European countries surveyed, men are more likely than women to think people are better off in a free market economy. There is similarly disproportionate male support for capitalism in Turkey and Tunisia. And in 12 of 18 countries, people with a college education are more likely than those without a college degree to back the free market system.

The link between the work ethic and support for capitalism, discussed by German sociologist Max Weber, is borne out by the survey. In 14 of 21 countries, those who have faith that hard work leads to economic success are also more likely to think people are better off in a market economy. This is particularly the case in Britain, U.S., Russia, the Czech Republic and China.

The economic mood is exceedingly glum all around the world. A median of just 27 percent think their national economy is doing well, according to a survey in 21 countries by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. Only in China (83%), Germany (73%), Brazil (65%) and Turkey (57%) do most people report that current national economic conditions are good.

The public mood about the economy has worsened since 2008 in eight of 15 countries for which there is comparable data, while it is essentially unchanged in four others. The Chinese are the lone exception. They have been positive about their economy for the past decade.

Less than a third of Americans (31%) say the U.S. economy is doing well. That figure is up 13 percentage points from 2011. (But it is down 19 points from 2007, the year before the financial crunch began.) A median of just 16% of Europeans surveyed think their economy is performing up to par. That includes just 2% of the Greeks and 6% of the Spanish and Italians. Among Europeans, only the Germans (73%) give their economy a thumbs up. And just 7% of Japanese believe their economy is doing well.

People are, however, generally far more positive about their personal economic condition than they are about their nation’s economic situation. A median of 52 percent in the 21 nations surveyed feel satisfied with their own circumstances. Americans are twice as likely to say their family finances are in good shape as they are to say that the national economic situation is good. There are larger differences in Britain and Japan, where those who rate their personal economic situation as good exceed the number who have positive views of the national economy by more than four-to-one. Only the Chinese are significantly more likely to say the national economy is doing better than their families’ finances.

And there is some optimism that things will improve in the next 12 months, especially in Brazil (84%), China (83%) and Tunisia (75%). Nevertheless, pessimism about young peoples’ ability to do better than their parents is rampant, particularly in Europe (a median of only 9% think it will be easy) and Japan (10%). Again, the lone exception is China, where 57% say it will be easy for their children to become wealthier or to get a better job.

There is a striking contrast between the economic outlook in four of the emerging markets surveyed – Brazil, China, India and Turkey – and the European Union and the U.S. People living in these economies are generally more likely than Americans or Europeans to say that they are doing better than their parents. They are twice as likely as Americans and more than three times as likely as Europeans to think economic conditions in their countries are good. They are three times more likely than Europeans and more than twice as likely as Americans to say that they are financially better off compared with five years ago. And, while people in emerging markets also worry about the economic mobility of their children, they are four times more optimistic about the future for their kids than the Europeans and twice as optimistic as Americans.

In contrast, economic attitudes are particularly gloomy in the four nations polled in the Arab world. Only a third of those surveyed think they are better off than their parents at the same age. A median of only 30% say they are doing well financially. And a median of only 16% believe their children will have an easy time becoming economically better off than themselves.

Tough times have undermined the work ethic in a number of countries among people who are suffering economically. Those who say their personal finances are a mess are far less likely than those who are doing well to believe that most people succeed if they work hard.

The global economic crisis has eroded support for capitalism. In 11 of the 21 nations surveyed, half or fewer now agree with the statement that people are better off in a free market economy even though some people are rich and some are poor. And such backing is down in 9 of 16 nations with comparable data since 2007, before the Great Recession began. Such disenchantment is particularly acute in Italy (where support for a free market economy is down 23 percentage points), Spain (20 points) and Poland (15 points).

These are among the key findings from a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, conducted in 21 countries among 26,210 respondents from March 17 to April 20, 2012.