Work is the defining activity in people's lives. In most of the world, it is a matter of survival, but work also places people in stratification systems, shapes their physical and emotional well-being, and influences their chances for social mobility. Although the term "work" generally is used to denote the exertion of effort toward some end, economically it refers to activities oriented toward producing goods and services for one's own use or for pay. The conception of work as a means of generating income underlies most sociological scholarship on work and most of the available statistics. Unpaid productive work, including that done in the home (indeed, homemaking is the largest occupation in the United States) and volunteer work, tends to be invisible. This article focuses primarily on paid work.

Evolution of Work

Although contemporary work differs dramatically from work in the past, the evolution...