ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a thumbnail history of the ideas of Work and Jobs. The late 20th century is proving to be a transitional phase in the history of Work. The relations between landowners and their labourers sometimes became contentious: peasant uprisings were familiar, and conditions of agricultural work were in continual renegotiation. Before the rise of Factories, people’s work took different forms. Country workers were Servants of a Master, who accepted responsibility for them, so long as they lived on his estate, or in his village. City workers, too, learned their trades with — not for — a Master craftsman, and followed the career from Apprentice, through Journeyman, to Master in their own right. In the fields of Work and Employment, indeed, the most striking social change in the 20th century has been the progressive drop in the agricultural fraction of the work force, from more than 50% down to 5% or less.
