Che cosa conta ancora del lavoro. Un’analisi longitudinale e cross-country degli atteggiamenti diffusi negli ultimi 40 anni

Influential scholars have theorized “the end of working society”, “la société au-delà de l’emploi” or “le désenchantement du travail”. Following these (more or less) radical interpretations, we should observe that in highly developed countries the significance of work would decrease among citizens, resulting in a decline in its value and its centrality. The loss of centrality of work in people’s life could have many consequences, since it performs not just an economic function. Which individual needs are still satisfied through the work? Did their importance change over time, between men and women, generations, different nationalities? Data from four waves of the "European Values Survey" (EVS) on these topics are available for the analysis; they cover a relative wide time span ranging from 1981 to 2008. Using these data, we try to answer the questions above, focusing on the Italian case and comparing it with other countries with different forms of protection and job security and different models of welfare.