Patterns and types of work in the past

Part 1

Richard Donkin

pp. 25-31

in: Robert Skidelsky, Nan Craig (eds), Work in the future, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020

Abstract

Work is a difficult concept to define, but fundamentally it involves change and transformation. This essay gives an overview of how work has changed from the earliest hunter-gatherer period to modern industrial times. For much of human history, work was inextricable from the rest of life—not only as a means of survival but also as an element of family or social life and as a pleasurable activity. While work has always been intimately connected with technology, environmental challenges we face today call for us to undertake work that is less driven by a need for economic growth and unnecessary production.