Work (sociology)

Work (sociology), the expenditure of effort to supply goods or services, whether by physical, mental, or emotional labour, and for use by either self or others.

In current parlance, a clear distinction tends to be drawn between paid and unpaid work. Paid work is usually referred to as employment in a contract for a wage or salary; it is an exchange of effort, usually in a specified place and within specified hours for money. These characteristics are, however, historically associated with industrialism—with its organization in factories and offices. It is also the case that classical industrialism was, on the whole, a male activity. So work in the sense of employment has been predominantly male until the more recent absorption of women into the workforce. This meant the history of work in the broad sense has been wrongly defined. In fact most of it has been done by women, especially as domestic labour and childrearing.

Moreover, so great has been the impact of industrial culture that work is associated with the factory—whereas most of it, and now an increasing proportion, is done elsewhere: in the home, in the community, and in places of recreation. Hours of work in the employment sense have steadily declined in the 20th century, by the day, the week, the year, and the lifetime. Childhood and retirement have expanded. Adolescents and students are now among the more hard-working age grades as they labour to gain qualifications for entry into “work”.