What does "rat race" mean?

Julito, Norway is rated as one of the happiest countries in the world. Its GDP is around $56,000 per capita and it’s also noted that people trust each other. We call that “naive”, but they don’t care, just rated as the happiest ones. China is getting better and better every year economically and with this social capital has much improved to compare it with the past years.

OLA, used to be in the past , nowadays  things have changed for the worst , good people are, of course, maybe is all about this thing  of the rat race , values are not so strong now. all is about money . 

Kat-lina, never heard of that.

Julito. How trustworthy people in general in Argentina?

In my country if we say that a person is a rat , means  that you musn´t trust  him, he is a very  treacherous ,deceitful    and mean person.

hi ola.
that’s ok, but dirty not for “not clean” but  “playing dirty” for “carreerism”. Do you understand what I meant? In Italy the rats (not mice, but rats) are associate at idea of “nasty creatures”; for example, for the Italian slang, rat is also meaning “prostitute”.

Katlina, rat is one of the smarterst animals. And it’s very clean. It doesnt smell that bad as other animals and it grooms itself. It’s like a dog, if you take it as a pet.

The rat race. A race of those who is able to compete. And who is able to compete and be a winner. The one who’re smart, organized… Allegory.

ok, thanks julito.

“Rat”,maybe, is for “dirty”, “slimy” or anyway a pejorative meaning

It sometimes good to be in rat race, sitting and wait for the moon to drop isn’t that too boring :D

 kat-lina  , it means fierce competition involved in mantaining or improving one’s position in the work place or in the social ladder.

PS: “ratto”= a very big mice, that can you found in a garbage dump or in the sewer
“competizione”= competition, contest

why “rat race” for this meaning? I’m Italian, the translation of this expression is “competizione del ratto”......???? anyone can explain me? (sorry for the grammar mistakes , accept blame :-) )