‘More Than a Slight Ache’: On the Ethnographic Sensibility and Enduring Relevance of Studs Terkel's Working*

Abstract

It has been 50 years since the publication of Studs Terkel’s groundbreaking book, Working, which consists of a compilation of interviews carried out with over 130 workers in the United States. In this chapter, the author revisits this masterpiece, which offers a penetrating analysis of the dehumanization and degradation of work. The author argues that Working is an ode to, and guide for, ethnographic scholarship on work and that it remains as powerful and relevant today as when it was originally published a half of a century ago.

Citation

Purser, G. (2024), "‘More Than a Slight Ache’: On the Ethnographic Sensibility and Enduring Relevance of Studs Terkel's Working*", Helfen, M., Delbridge, R., Pekarek, A.(A). and Purser, G. (Ed.) Essentiality of Work (Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 36), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320240000036009