Sociology Now, Census Update

AMERICANS SPEND AN AVERAGE OF 1,804 HOURSper year working. That’s 200 hours more

than in France or Sweden, over 300 more than in Germany, but 550 hours less than Korea

(OECD, 2007). An American who works full-time from age 18 to age 65, with three weeks off

for vacations and holidays each year, will spend about 91,000 hours doing things that are

more likely to be boring, degrading, and physically exhausting than they are fun, interest-

ing, and exciting. Why do we do it? It depends on whom you ask.

Ask a janitor or a sales clerk, and you are likely to hear: for the money. No one gets a

free ride: food, clothing, and shelter all come with price tags. Work is, well, work, not play.

Unless you win the lottery, you just have to find some way to get through each day. Maybe

you can think about your real life, after hours, with family, friends, and leisure.

Ask a photojournalist or a trial

lawyer, and you are likely to hear: for

the satisfaction. A job is a “calling,”

the fulfillment of talent, skill, train-

ing, and ambition, not something you

dobut something you are. Even when

the work day is supposedly over, you are constantly getting new ideas or thinking about

problems. There is no “after hours.” This isyour life.

Clearly, our motivations for working are not either/or, but both. For most of us, it’s a

combination of the two. The janitor and the sales clerk probably find some degree of worth,

meaning, and satisfaction in

their jobs in addition to pay-

checks, and the photojournalist

and the trial lawyer would be

far less likely to consider their

jobs a “calling” if they weren’t

paid.

A job provides both

identity and financial support.

And the degree to which it provides each is a key to an understanding of the economy as a

major institution of reproducing social inequality.

Economy

and Work

417

Ajob provides both identity and

financial support. And the degree to

which it provides each is a key to an

understanding of the economy as a

major institution of reproducing social

inequality.