On the Biopsychosocial Costs of Alienated Labor

Seeman, Melvin; Merkin, Sharon Stein; Karlamangla, Arun S.; Koretz, Brandon; Grzywacz, Joseph G.; Lachman, Margie E.; Seeman, Teresa E.

doi:10.1177/0950017020952662

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Work alienation, as a type of alienation (others are cultural alienation, political alienation, etc. ), reflects and is consistent with the theoretical origin of alienation theory and its core theoretical foundation, emphasizing the complex relationship between employees and their working environment 23 . In the field of organizational behaviour, researchers suggest that work alienation essentially reflects that the needs of employees are not satisfied by their work, and the source of alienation lies in the gap between the objective work situation and the employees’ values, ideals, and hobbies 1 , 24 .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

The effect of work area on work alienation among China’s grassroots judicial administrators

Liu

Zhang²,

Feng

2022

Sci Rep

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Work alienation refers to mental self-separation from work, and it is an integral reflection of workers and their work. Few studies have explored the association between work area and work alienation among grassroots judicial administrators. A stratified sampling method was used to collect data from 288 grassroots judicial administrators in Guangzhou to measure the overall status quo and work alienation in this group. This study found that the current grassroots judicial administrative team has a reasonable structure, high professional quality, and rich grassroots work experience, but a high level of work intensity (Mean = .667) and a lack of autonomy (Mean = .757) are prominent. Work area (unstandardized regression coefficient, B = .917) is significantly related to work alienation when controlling for sociodemographic and work characteristic variables: the closer the work area is to the city centre areas, the higher the level of work alienation. In addition, education level also has a significant effect on work alienation: the lower the individual education level is, the stronger the work alienation. The discussion focuses on the knowledge needs in grassroots judicial administrative work and the importance of the external working environment, and further research implications are proposed.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

The effect of work area on work alienation among China’s grassroots judicial administrators

Liu

Zhang²,

Feng

2022

Sci Rep

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“…His study of factory workers highlighted the monotony of work and lack of participation opportunities led to feelings of alienation, in a critique to the more Marxian notions of the time that all work was “objectively” alienating. Seeman (1959) popularized the related concept of self‐estrangement, reaching somewhat similar conclusions about the critical importance of work organization, including most recently connecting alienating job attributes to health (Seeman et al, 2020).…”

Section: Social Stratification In Meaningful Jobsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Social stratification in meaningful work: Occupational class disparities in the United Kingdom

Williams

Gifford

Zhou

2022

British Journal of Sociology

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Sociologists have long been interested in the meaning workers derive from their jobs. The issue has garnered increasing academic and policy attention in recent years with the concept of "meaningful work," yet little is known about how social stratification relates to access to it. This paper addresses this issue by exploring how the meaningfulness of jobs-as rated by their incumbents-is stratified across classes and occupations in a national survey of 14,000 working adults in the United Kingdom. It finds modest differentials between classes, with those in routine and manual occupations reporting the lowest levels of meaningfulness and those in managerial and professional occupations and small employers and own account workers reporting the highest levels. Detailed job attributes (e.g., job complexity and development opportunities) explain much of the differences in meaningfulness between classes and occupations, and much of the overall variance in meaningfulness. The main exception is the specific case of how useful workers perceive their jobs to be for society: A handful of occupations relating to health, social care, and protective services which cut across classes stand out from all other occupations.The paper concludes that the modest stratification between classes and occupations in meaningful work is largely due to disparities in underlying job complexity and developmentThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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“…Weekend workers also reported more daily work stressors than weekday workers. Alienation in the workplace has been studied [ 25 ], focusing on levels of autonomy or creativity that work does or does not provide. For men, these qualities were linked with allostatic load, a summary index of biological dysregulation, whereas for women, alienation was linked with cognitive outcomes (memory and executive function).…”

Section: Work Well-being and Health: Findings From Midusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaningful Work, Well-Being, and Health: Enacting a Eudaimonic Vision

Soren,

Ryff

2023

IJERPH

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Work is one of the most enduring and consequential life domains regarding how meaning and purpose impact health and well-being. This review first examines scientific findings from the MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) national longitudinal study that have linked work to well-being and health. Most have focused on adverse work or work conditions as influences on poor health, with a few recent findings investigating links to purpose and other aspects of eudaimonic well-being. Organizational scholarship is then selectively reviewed to show how meaningful work is often linked to motivation, performance, and commitment. Paradoxically, meaning can also lead to the exploitation and erosion of health and well-being when managed without regard for decent working conditions. Recent workplace phenomena known as the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting underscore the societal consequences of work without meaning or adequate working conditions. Both the scientific and organizational literature are enriched by a vision of meaningful work rooted in Aristotle’s writings about virtue, ethics, and the realization of potential. Evidence-based practices tied to these eudaimonic ideals are examined at multiple levels, including the societal context (public policy), organizational conditions (culture, human resource practices, leadership), and individual strategies to find meaning, engagement, and fulfillment in work. A concluding section highlights strengths and omissions in the scientific and organizational literature and, going forward, calls for greater interplay among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in enacting eudaimonic ideals.

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On the Biopsychosocial Costs of Alienated Labor

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

The effect of work area on work alienation among China’s grassroots judicial administrators

The effect of work area on work alienation among China’s grassroots judicial administrators

Social stratification in meaningful work: Occupational class disparities in the United Kingdom

Meaningful Work, Well-Being, and Health: Enacting a Eudaimonic Vision

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