The Thought of Work

This is a really useful and important book for anyone working or especially teaching in the field of employment studies. . . . The book can be used in a number of ways and at different levels to teach about work. It is, for example, an excellent way to introduce students to the general subject matter of economic life. Importantly, it invites the reader to think in theoretical, conceptual and at times philosophical ways about work. . . . Budd and his publisher are to be congratulated on producing a text that will be an invaluable resource for teachers and students of sociology, philosophy, management and business, as well as other disciplines. The book deserves to be a staple on any self-respecting critical reading list on work and employment. The Thought of Work is part of a real renaissance in the interdisciplinary study of work and is to be applauded. -Tim Strangleman, British Journal of Industrial Relations (March 2013)

Budd does an excellent job of describing how work has utterly triumphed among us . . . but also confronts the issue of the deeply and widely held view that work no longer offers food for the soul and that many people's experience of paid employment is characterized by a radical loss of meaningfulness beyond its obvious and fundamental functionality. -Paul Gilfillan, Work, Employment & Society (2013)

In academic analysis as in everyday life, we hold conflicting perspectives and assumptions regarding work. In this impressive book, John W. Budd offers a comprehensive overview of past and present conceptions of working life and demonstrates that it is necessary and possible to find complementarities across our often contradictory ways of thinking about work. -Richard Hyman, London School of Economics, author of Understanding European Trade Unionism

John W. Budd's The Thought of Work provides a much needed and highly eloquent statement of the meanings and orientations to work across time and nations. It is essential reading for students of work from senior scholars to beginning undergraduates. -Randy Hodson, Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The Ohio State University, and past editor, American Sociological Review

The Thought of Work is an erudite and engaging interdisciplinary synthesis of ten meanings of work that shows the centrality of work in our lives, identity politics, and society. The book draws on meanings of work from the social sciences and humanities and discusses their implications for a wide range of policy issues, including labor-management relations, the environment, human resource management, race relations, health and mental health, poverty, and gender relations. -Daniel B. Cornfield, Vanderbilt University, and editor, Work and Occupations