Postmodern Views of Work: The Effects of Narrative on the Perceived Value of Work

Abstract

Abstract As a result of the changing landscape of the world of work and the reduction of stability in occupations over the last few decades, many in the field of vocational psychology have suggested a reconceptualization in the way we view and think about work in the lives of people. These changes have prompted a shift to a contextual, constructionist view of work, and an expansion of the definition of work to include additional domains like personal care work, or unpaid work that is done for care of self, others and/or community. This particular work domain is typically genderized and thought to be largely devalued. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, this study examined the value placed on work activities evident in vignettes, in both market (work done for pay) and personal care work domains by having participants rate work activity descriptions on multiple positive and negative characteristics through the use of semantic differential pairings. Second, by employing tenets from narrative theory, this study examined the effects of reconstructing the narrative of personal care work by implementing positive changes in language in the personal care work descriptions, and having participants rate these descriptions on the same semantic differential pairings. In addition to evaluating the ratings of the work descriptions, this study also examined the relationship between value placed on work activities and gender of worker by varying the gender of the individuals in the descriptions. Relationships between the participants’ salient identities, as measured by the Salience Inventory, and values placed on different work activities were also examined. Analyses in this study indicated that the participant pool, in part, behaved in ways anticipated given societal beliefs and existing literature documenting the decreased value given to personal care work (Richardson, 2010). Further, data provided quantitative support for the benefits of a contextualization, which incorporates the relational nature of work by evidencing greater value attributions given work narratives emphasizing relationships. Finally, data revealed that the participants' own identification of social status and their identification with a salient work identity had no bearing on the value ratings they ascribed to the vignettes, regardless of language.