ABSTRACT
Work can obtain results directly or indirectly. If you are hungry you can satisfy that hunger directly by working to hunt, gather or grow food – or indirectly by working to earn money with which to buy food – and the same goes for clothing or shelter. Overall most people work to obtain the resources they need for living, and there are a variety of ways in which they might do this. Some ways might appeal because they don’t actually involve much work. For instance, inheriting or marrying wealth or winning the lottery may not take much effort, but these options are not available to many people. Begging or crime are the methods adopted by others, even if they are socially and/or legally discouraged – and they are still forms of work and generally require some effort. However, for most people, depending on where they live, the main possibilities have been one or more of
hunter-gathering, self-sufficient agriculture, working for someone else or having a business enterprise of some sort. The evolution of those activities is therefore the subject of this chapter’s history of work.
