Work Identity in Crisis? Rethinking the Problem of Attachment and Loss at Work

an article by Tim Strangleman (University of Kent, Canterbury) published in Sociology Volume 46 Number 3 (June 2012)

Abstract

The identity and meaning people obtain from their work is a central issue in contemporary sociology.

There is a debate between those suggesting that we have witnessed either great rupture or continuity in the way employees engage with their jobs.

This article reframes the question posed, developing a critical theoretical framework for understanding narratives of change derived from a range of theorists using concepts of nostalgia, tradition and generations. This framework is then used to read a set of work/life history interviews and autobiographical material from mainly older male workers in the UK railway industry who lament the erosion of their workplace culture and the sustainable moral order of the past.

The article seeks to move beyond dismissing such accounts as simple nostalgia and instead suggests that these narratives can be understood as valuable organic critiques of industrial and social change emergent from work culture.

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Relations of work identity, family identity, situational demands, and sex with employee work hours

an article by Jeffrey H. Greenhaus (Drexel University, USA), Ann C. Peng (Michigan State University, USA) and Tammy D. Allen (The University of South Florida, USA) published in Journal of Vocational Behavior Volume 80 Issue 1 (February 2012)

Abstract

This study examined relations of multiple indicators of work identity and family identity with the number of weekly hours worked by 193 married business professionals. We found that men generally worked long hours regardless of the situational demands to work long hours and the strength of their work and family identities. Women’s work hours, on the other hand, were associated with their work and family identities when weak situational demands permitted discretion over their work hours. We suggest that these sex differences can be explained by the ways in which women and men construe their work and family identities.

Hazel’s comment:
I’ve not read the full article [note to self: must do so] but these findings, which may be obvious, indicate that men and women view their priorities differently.

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