ABSTRACT
This chapter constructs a coherent theory of human work. The notion that work behavior is a function, in part, of a semiautonomous area of the personality is fundamental. Work behavior is seen as a kind of transaction between the working individual and his "surround". Of the many aspects of this complex transaction, the authors have singled out three for special emphasis: the semiautonomous operation of the work personality; the existence of a distinctive work subculture; the conception of taxonomy of distinctive forms of maladaptation to work. All the social, technical, and ideological shifts are undoubtedly changing the meanings imputed to work. Probably few people still see work as the path to Godliness, for revealed religion is no longer a powerful social force. Work is neither a blessing nor a curse but simply one of the major conditions of man's existence.
