ABSTRACT
Sociologists and social psychologists have long recognized that workers find intrinsic value in work. Even when labor is coerced, workers often find elements of pride in their work and identification with the work’s purposes. Workers, like employers, pursue multiple objectives. They work for pay, to be sure, but they also toil for pride in a job well done, for the enjoyment of learning, for the appreciation of bosses and co-workers, for continuing access to the social world of the workplace, and for the purpose of fulfilling traditions or the expectations of others. The chief constraint on a worker is the range of jobs available to him or her. Every employer seeks loyalty as a central outcome of including actors within the boundaries of the firm. History plays a part in establishing such overlapping ties as well: When actors set out to construct a network for concerted action, they tend to use existing network connections as a foundation.
