Significance of Work Flashcards
defines an individual’s identity and status
How people view themselves and how others view them can be defined by the work they do. Work is an important source of self-esteem and most people are defined by the work they do.
Eg Makin the florist. Work occupies the biggest time commitment of an individual’s week and requires a high degree of self-discipline for people to maintain the regular commitment of work.
Work also provides opportunities for people to develop socially, as they need to work and cooperate with others. In this way work also gives structure and direction to an individual’s life.
defines an individual’s identity and status A03
Postmodernists argue that society is no longer based on producing goods but on consuming goods and the goods that people consume is now a greater source of an individual’s identity than work. Work has ceased to be the central focus of people’s lives
biggest factor influencing an individual’s life chances
Life chances are the opportunities people have to enjoy the best things in life, such as good health, quality housing, better education and more leisure choices.
Those without work, or with low paid work, have a greater chance of experiencing poverty, ill health, poor education and crime. Work gives people income and this in turn gives them the basic needs of life and the means to maintain a certain lifestyle with surplus income to spend on leisure activities and consumer goods.
Moreover, work influences health and life expectancy. There is now evidence to support the view that work is generally good for physical and mental health. Work also influences the pensions people have in old age. Shift-work, night work, overtime, working conditions, stress and diseases linked to work all have consequences for person’s health and life expectancy.
biggest factor influencing an individual’s life chances A03
Globalisation has resulted in low levels of job security and a deskilling of work. Therefore, work is said to have lost its once central importance in people’s lives; this once came from a sense of working collectively and interacting with others in long established work places.
