The Unintended Consequences of Technology

CHAPTER 11Work: Why Do People Work?

Work is something everyone loves and sometimes hates. But what is it? And why do most people you know work?

Work includes the duties that someone regularly performs in order to earn wages or a salary. Work is an occupation, a job, something that someone does or has done in order to achieve a result or serve a purpose.

A worker is someone who does work. Sometimes people are self-employed, other times they are employed by an employer or a company. The IRS says that a worker (an employee) gets paid wages, pays taxes on those wages, receives benefits, and has a schedule dictated to them by an employer. A worker can also be considered to be a member of the working class.

WHY DO PEOPLE WORK?

In addition to the most elemental reason—to support themselves and their dependents—there are many explicit and unspoken reasons why people work. Here are a few:

• Identity: We derive our sense of identity from comparison with others, those we are like, those we differ from. So changing our job can change how we are seen and who we identify with. Through our work we find an identity, and we can find status and intellectual stimulation.
• Sense of belonging: This is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of respect, acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group or place. In order for people to feel like they belong, the environment (in this case the workplace) needs to be set up to be a diverse and inclusive place.
• Safety ...