Is Work Still Meaningful?

On its face, “meaningful work” may sound elitist, an offshoot of late 20th century “professionalism” that encouraged the privileged few to “express themselves” through their jobs.  And historically, the widespread demand for meaningful jobs is new, a consequence of developments stretching back barely a generation. But the decline of manufacturing and the rise of the knowledge economy created the conditions by which the pursuit and promise of meaning in one’s job grew dramatically. And business experts tell me it continues to grow, that young people are more than ever striving to find meaning in work. Today, some employers exploit this trend, offering employees “meaning” as well as money, claims boosted by best-selling authors and motivational speakers who enthuse that meaning can be “made” for employees.  Such claims should give us pause—we’re talking about a job here, not a religious experience. And it’s notable that the word “job,” traced to its 16th-century origins, is defined as a mean and piddling affair, a crude way of turning a buck, not a passport to enlightenment.

But while the impulse to find meaning in one’s job may seem naive and vulnerable to corporate distortion, the drive to find meaning in work is not. Our modern tragedy is to mistake a job for work, and to expect any particular job to bring us not only opportunity and income, but meaning, exhilaration, purpose. More than 40 years ago, Ralph Helstein, then president emeritus of the United Packinghouse Workers of America, shared his thoughts on this in Stud Terkel’s classic Working: ”Learning is work. Caring for children is work. Community action is work.  Once we accept the concept of work as something meaningful—not just as the source of a buck—you don’t have to worry about finding enough jobs.”