ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Strangleman examines how work has been represented in a variety of media. This chapter has two main aims. First, it aims to understand the variety of ways in which work and employment figure in a range of art forms and other media. We want to look at how work is presented in visual media (fine art, photography, film, sculpture); in written form
(novels, diaries, autobiography and poems) and also in song. The second aim is to suggest how such material can be used by work sociologists to add to our understanding of the topic. As you will see, this current chapter links directly to our discussion of the use of visual methods in the previous chapter, where we looked at how sociologists use images as part of their research. It is also our intention that the reader goes forward from this chapter with a wider sense of the resources and approaches available in studying work. For instance, in the next two chapters we will discuss industrialisation and post-industrial society where many of the themes covered are addressed in the current chapter. The format of this chapter is slightly different from the others in this book because of the subject matter under discussion.
