Devaluation of Work and Its Linkage With Worker Risks in the Recent Transformation of the Work Sphere

Abstract

ABSTRACTOver the last decades, sociologists of work have paid increasing attention to the critical phenomena in the labor market, among them the devaluation of work and its factors. Based on an analysis of publications in the field, this paper outlines problems of transforming work meanings and values, including their linkage with new worker risks and job security caused by the rapid work changes, precarization, social inequality, growing population gap between the advanced and developing countries, global pandemics, climate crisis and the like. These phenomena reflect social, economic, political, and legal changes and their impact on the sphere of work. Current work challenges have initiated research discussions in the work sphere that have helped spotlight the ongoing transformation of work meanings/values. The article reviews the diversity of theoretical approaches and practical implications of work values transformation from the perspective of factors determining long‐lasting shifts in work values, ranging from recognizing the intrinsic meanings of work to the predominance of pragmatic, instrumental work attitudes. The authors identified three main types of transforming work values based on a systematic mapping of publications. First, the prevalence of material, pragmatic values almost does not leave space for the social value of work. Second, it is the perception of work as a meaningless activity that cannot contribute to work satisfaction. Third, it is a vision of a society without work. When describing these types, the authors outline the transformation of work into an ordinary market product that has lost its intrinsic value and become a source of frustration, alienation, and psychological stress for workers. Diversity of work values reflects the controversial processes related to the global transformation of labor from the growth of innovative potential of some professions to the fear of technological unemployment and new risks for others.