Work (human activity)

Work or labour (labor in American English) is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, and/or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the human activity that contributes (along with other factors of production) towards the goods and services within an economy.

Work has existed in all human societies, either as paid or unpaid work, from gathering natural resources by hand in hunter-gatherer groups to operating complex technologies that substitute for physical or even mental effort within an agricultural, industrial, or post-industrial society. One's regular participation or role in work is an occupation, or job. All but the simplest tasks in any work require specific skills, tools, and other resources, such as material for manufacturing goods. Humanity has developed a variety of institutions for group coordination of work, such as government programs, nonprofit organizations, cooperatives, and corporations.

Cultures and individuals across history have expressed a wide range of attitudes towards work. Besides objective differences, one culture may organize or attach social status to work roles through formalized professions which may carry specialized job titles and provide people with a career. Throughout history, work has been intimately connected with other aspects of society and politics, such as power, class, tradition, rights, and privileges. Accordingly, the division of labour is a prominent topic across the social sciences as both an abstract concept and a characteristic of individual cultures. Work may also present a threat to individual human happiness and survival, either through dirty, dangerous, and demeaning occupations or in extreme cases, from death by overwork.

Some people have also engaged in critique of work and expressed a wish to reduce or abolish it entirely, for example in Paul Lafargue in his book The Right to Be Lazy, David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs, or The Abolition of Work by Bob Black. Real world programs to eliminate the economic necessity for lifelong work first emerged through the concept of retirement, and have more recently been extended to all adults through experimentation with universal basic income.

Work can take many different forms, as varied as the environments, tools, skills, goals, and institutions around a worker. This term refers to the general activity of performing tasks, whether they are paid or unpaid, formal or informal. Work encompasses all types of productive activities, including employment, household chores, volunteering, and creative pursuits. It is a broad term that encompasses any effort or activity directed towards achieving a particular goal.

Because sustained effort is a necessary part of many human activities, what qualifies as work is often a matter of context. Specialization is one common feature that distinguishes work from other activities. For example, a sport is a job for a professional athlete who earns their livelihood from it, but a hobby for someone playing for fun in their community. An element of advance planning or expectation is also common, such as when a paramedic provides medical care while on duty and fully equipped rather than performing first aid off-duty as a bystander in an emergency. Self-care and basic habits like personal grooming are also not typically considered work.

While a later gift, trade, or payment may retroactively affirm an activity as productive, this can exclude work like volunteering or activities within a family setting, like parenting or housekeeping. In some cases, the distinction between work and other activities is simply a matter of common sense within a community. However, an alternative view is that labeling any activity as work is somewhat subjective, as Mark Twain expressed in the "whitewashed fence" scene of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Humans have varied their work habits and attitudes over time. As humans are diurnal, they work mainly during the day, but some occupations require night shift work. Hunter-gatherer societies vary their "work" intensity according to the seasonal availability of plants and the periodic migration of prey animals. The development of agriculture led to more sustained work practices, but work still changed with the seasons, with intense sustained effort during harvests (for example) alternating with less focused periods such as winters. In the early modern era, Protestantism and proto-capitalism emphasized the moral and personal advantages of hard work.