ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the challenges posed by poverty and growing levels of social and income inequality. It argues that the psychology of working offers a heuristic framework for guiding research, policy, and practice in vocational and organizational psychology that can increase access to decent work and promote sustainable lives. Psychology of working theory (PWT) is guided by a number of central tenets. After delineating the components of PWT, the authors discuss the importance of research in advancing a PWSI policy agenda for tackling precarious work, promoting policy to overcome poverty and inequality, and advancing the goals of sustainability, especially in light of the new work challenges in the post-pandemic world. The challenge of overcoming poverty in the 21st century represents a critical policy and research agenda for vocational and organizational psychology, particularly when considering the connections between poverty, lack of decent work, and work precarity.
