ABSTRACT
Poets and politicians, novelists and economists, philosophers and psychologists have speculated about the nature, meaning, advantages, and disadvantages of work. Historical evidence shows how the meaning of work has changed over the centuries, no doubt adapted to fit, explain, or support contemporary social structure. Machlowitz has defined workaholics as people whose desire to work long and hard is intrinsic and whose work habits almost always exceed the prescriptions of the job they do and the expectations of the people with whom, or for whom, they work. She quotes Galbraith on the first page of her book, who noted that ‘No ethic is as ethical as the work ethic’. Throughout her book she assumes that the workaholic is the embodiment of the Protestant Work Ethic. Although researchers have found no close relationship between job scope and job satisfaction, there appears to be some evidence that this relationship is modified by individual difference factors.
