Being With Others

This chapter reviews the relational aspects of work, exploring how work functions to provide people with an opportunity to connect to others and, at times, to evoke distress in the workplace. Beginning with a review of the relational revolution in psychology, vignettes from the Boston College Working Project participants explicate how relationships function within the workplace, underscoring both adaptive and aversive aspects of relational influences, power differentials at work, work–family balance, and the internalization process. The chapter includes a review of recent contributions on attachment, social support, mentoring, and social networks, which reflect important new directions for understanding the ways in which being with others at work enhances aliveness and well-being. Policy implications pertaining to the need for people to have access to decent work that affirms relational strivings conclude the chapter.

Being Able to Survive and Thrive

This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the ways in which the needs for survival and power intersect with working. Beginning with an overview of Maslow’s need hierarchy (which indicates the need for survival is fundamental to our existence) and the psychology-of-working framework, vignettes from the participants from the Boston College Working Project provide an in-depth perspective about the complex ways that striving for survival intersects with relationships, financial security, and thriving. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the role of time perspective and work volition in relation to the need to survive. The chapter makes clear that the drive for survival is an essential aspect of being alive in the world. Creating opportunities for people to meet this integral aspect of human experience, naturally, is a challenge that requires the best of our inner spirits and a commitment to nurturing the needs of the entire spectrum of people in our communities.

Being Able to Care

This chapter reviews the ways in which caregiving and care work relate to work and well-being in the United States. Beginning with a discussion of how care work has been gendered and marginalized within discussions of working, the chapter reviews the foundation of how caregiving functions both psychologically and socially. The contributions of the participants from the Boston College Working Project enrich and deepen the perspective about caregiving and work. The chapter discusses new contributions on caring motivation and the relationships between care work and marketplace work, culminating in a call for a serious examination of how caregiving can be supported both financially and socially to ensure that all have opportunities to care for others in a dignified and nurturing fashion.

Being Without Work

This chapter focuses on the experiences of unemployment, underemployment, and precarious work, which are essential in understanding the importance of work in people’s lives. This chapter begins with an overview of how unemployment has been understood in psychology, focusing on an identification of the latent attributes that work provides for people and communities. The participants from the Boston College Working Project identified the emotional toll of unemployment, the struggles of the job search, and ideas about how public policy should address unemployment. The chapter then provides an integrative perspective of the psychological consequences of unemployment and a discussion of the tendency for unemployed individuals to blame themselves for their struggles. The chapter concludes with policy advice about how society can support the natural striving to work and to contribute to one’s survival and well-being via work.

Being Alive

This chapter introduces the major premises and framework for this book, which posits that working has the capacity to provide people with a sense of aliveness and engagement. Yet, for many, it is a source of pain and anguish. The history of work within human evolution is presented along with an overview of how work has been understood in psychology and the social sciences. The premise that work is central to life is explored via narratives from participants in the Boston College Working Project. The material is complemented by a review of the meaning of working from a psychological perspective.

Being Able to Work Without Oppression and Harassment

This chapter reviews the broad array of obstacles and barriers emerging from the social and economic context that impedes individuals’ capacity to attain decent and dignified work. Initially, marginalizing forces, such as racism, sexism, poverty, heterosexism, immigration, and prejudice due to disability and age, are reviewed. The narratives from the Boston College Working Project deepen the discussion by exploring individual experiences of oppression and harassment in relation to people’s working lives. When considered collectively, the material presented in this chapter serves to expose the growing erosion of working in America, which is particularly painful for those who are marginalized. The chapter concludes with a review of racial color-blindness and critical consciousness and provides useful ways to understand and combat oppression and harassment at work.

Being Motivated and Being the Best We Can Be

This chapter explores the role of motivation in contemporary work. Beginning with an overview of motivation in the recent history of working, the role of the Hawthorne effect and contributions on flow provide a contrasting view of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The narrative excerpts from the participants of the Boston College Working Project identified the role of creating and accomplishing, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, personal attributes related to motivation, relationships and motivation, and the role of competition in motivation. The chapter concludes with a review of promising new directions in motivation, including self-determination and organizational justice, culminating in a discussion of how work-based policies need to support and nurture our natural striving to accomplish and do well at work.

Being Part of Something Bigger Than Ourselves

This chapter explores the ways in which work provides people with a sense of contributing to the broader social and economic well-being of a community. Initially, a review of the experience of social contribution and prosocial behavior at work is provided. This is followed by vignettes from the Boston College Working Project participants, whose insights into the ways that meaning and mattering, direct and indirect social contribution, and deriving meaning from impacting others explicated the depth and nuance of striving to be part of something bigger than ourselves. The chapter concludes with a review of work as a calling and job crafting, as well as implications for policy about work.

Being Able to Work With Dignity and Opportunity

In this concluding chapter, the major themes from this deeply psychological examination of the nature of work in the United States are presented. Among the major issues identified in this integrative analysis were the deeply psychological nature of work, the relationships between sustainable livelihoods and work, the erosion of the workplace and work experience, and the complex ways that people understand the source of work-based problems. Recommendations for maximizing individual adaptability in the face of these challenges were presented along with advice about enhancing community supports for people. From a broader perspective, the chapter concluded a discussion of human rights, the impact of neoliberal policies, education and work, potential of basic income guarantees, and the need to ensure that all have an opportunity for decent and dignified work.