6.3.3
Work & Life
The Significance of Work for People’s Lives
The Significance of Work for People’s Lives
While capitalist society might emphasise the role of work in producing goods and services, it also plays a role in people’s wider lives. Work plays an important role in people’s lives in the following ways.
Time commitment
Time commitment
- Most people have little option but to work in order to make a living or to maintain a certain lifestyle; work is, therefore, non-discretionary.
- For most people, work represents the single biggest time commitment in any week, and is an important element in occupying, directing and structuring the individual’s time.
Status and identity
Status and identity
- Work allows people to achieve status and identity in society, as many people are defined by their job.
- Work provides an important source of self-esteem, contributing to a sense of identity.
- Work is an important influence on people’s life chances, such as how much money is earned, working conditions, length of hours and so on.
Social class
Social class
- In some societies, work is the single most important factor in deciding a person’s status and social class, plus the related social class identity.
- The extent of alienation and job satisfaction at work can influence the sense of purpose and fulfilment that people have in their lives.
Lifestyle choices
Lifestyle choices
- Work has a major effect on the time and money people have to enjoy and spend on leisure activities and consumer goods and, therefore, impacts lifestyle choices.
The Impact of Work on Leisure
The Impact of Work on Leisure
Parker suggests that work influences leisure in three ways.
- The extension pattern
- The extension pattern
- The extension pattern – work is seen as so interesting and demanding that there is a blurring of the distinction between work and leisure time, so they may merge into each other.
- The neutrality pattern
- The neutrality pattern
- The neutrality pattern – work is so boring, unfulfilling and routine that family and leisure are major life interests, rather than work.
- The opposition pattern
- The opposition pattern
- The opposition pattern – work is so physically hard and dangerous that leisure is a central life interest and provides an opportunity to escape from the hardships of work.
Criticisms of Parker
Criticisms of Parker
- Parker places too much importance on experiences at work and less importance on other factors that might shape leisure patterns, such as family commitments and income.
Feminist criticisms
Feminist criticisms
- Feminists argue that his research is focussed mainly on men in full-time paid employment and does not consider the way gender influences leisure, for example, women’s non-work time is often dominated by the demands of domestic labour.
The Declining Significance of Work in People’s Lives
The Declining Significance of Work in People’s Lives
Postmodernists argue that work is no longer the central axis of identity.
The postmodernist argument
The postmodernist argument
- The consumption of goods and lifestyle choices have now become more significant than work in people’s lives and in the formation of identities.
- The ‘end of work’ thesis suggests that work has lost its central role in people’s lives because of the following.
The ‘end of work’ thesis
The ‘end of work’ thesis
- Many jobs have become less skilled or ‘degrading’ leading to feelings of isolation with little interest or attachment to their work.
- Work has become more insecure in what Beck describes as a ‘risk society’ with higher levels of redundancy, short-term jobs and zero hours contracts.
Work and life chances
Work and life chances
- Work remains the primary way people earn money, even if it may not have the significance it once did.
- Work remains the principal factor in determining a person's social class and, consequently, their life chances in many societies.
Work and life chances cont.
Work and life chances cont.
- People in work generally have better physical and mental health, better diets, better housing, better educational opportunities for their children and more leisure and lifestyle choices.
- Lack of work is a major cause of poverty and work remains the best route out of poverty.
1Theory & Methods
1.1Sociological Theories
1.2Sociological Methods
2Education with Methods in Context
2.1Role & Function of the Education System
2.2Educational Achievement
2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools
3Option 1: Culture & Identity
3.1Conceptions of Culture
3.2Identity & Socialisation
3.3Social Identity
3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation
4Option 1: Families & Households
4.1Families & Households
4.2Changing Patterns
4.3The Symmetrical Family
4.4Children & Childhood
5Option 1: Health
5.1Social Constructions
5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare
5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare
5.4Mental Health
6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare
6.1Poverty & Wealth
7Option 2: Beliefs in Society
7.1Ideology, Science & Religion
7.2Religious Movements
7.3Society & Religion
8Option 2: Global Development
8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations
8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation
9Option 2: The Media
9.1Contemporary Media
9.2Media Representations
10Crime & Deviance
10.1Crime & Society
10.2Social Distribution of Crime
Jump to other topics
1Theory & Methods
1.1Sociological Theories
1.2Sociological Methods
2Education with Methods in Context
2.1Role & Function of the Education System
2.2Educational Achievement
2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools
3Option 1: Culture & Identity
3.1Conceptions of Culture
3.2Identity & Socialisation
3.3Social Identity
3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation
4Option 1: Families & Households
4.1Families & Households
4.2Changing Patterns
4.3The Symmetrical Family
4.4Children & Childhood
5Option 1: Health
5.1Social Constructions
5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare
5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare
5.4Mental Health
6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare
6.1Poverty & Wealth
7Option 2: Beliefs in Society
7.1Ideology, Science & Religion
7.2Religious Movements
7.3Society & Religion
8Option 2: Global Development
8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations
8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation
9Option 2: The Media
9.1Contemporary Media
9.2Media Representations
10Crime & Deviance
10.1Crime & Society
10.2Social Distribution of Crime
Unlock your full potential with GoStudent tutoring
Affordable 1:1 tutoring from the comfort of your home
Tutors are matched to your specific learning needs
30+ school subjects covered