Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Sociology of Work and Well-Being

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

Work is a central activity and a principal source of identity for most adults, but it is also a frequent source of distress. In this chapter, I show that job-related distress – or its opposite, well-being – might be best understood by considering the way that several economic and social structures affect exposure and vulnerability to work stressors. The state of the economy, the way workers are linked to jobs, the nature of those jobs, the structures of social inequality, and the intersection of work with other social institutions, especially the family, affect job conditions including those that make jobs stressful. These job-related economic and social structures routinely and normatively affect well-being and thus illustrate how social conditions account for psychological outcomes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 299.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Abbreviations

BLS:

Bureau of Labor Statistics

HWPO:

High performance work organization

SES:

Socioeconomic status

US:

United States

References

  • Anderson, S. E., Coffey, B. S., & Byerly, R. T. (2002). Formal organizational initiatives and informal workplace practices: Links to work-family conflict and job-related outcomes. Journal of Management, 28, 787–810.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aneshensel, C. S. (2009). Toward explaining mental health disparities. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 50, 377–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aneshensel, C. S., Rutter, C. M., & Lachenbruch, P. A. (1991). Social structure, stress, and mental health: Competing conceptual and analytic models. American Sociological Review, 56, 166–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appelbaum, E., Bernhardt, A., & Murnane, R. J. (2003). Low-wage America: An overview. In E. Appelbaum, A. Bernhardt, & R. J. Murnane (Eds.), Low-wage America: How employers are reshaping opportunity in the workplace (pp. 1–32). New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands-resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 309–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. R. (1993). Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self-managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 408–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, R. C., & Marshall, N. (1991). The relationship between women’s work and family roles and their subjective well-being and psychological stress. In M. Frankenhaeusen, U. Lundberg, & M. A. Chesney (Eds.), Women, work, and health: Stress and opportunities (pp. 11–36). New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, E. M., Horan, P. M., & Tolbert, C. M., II. (1978). Stratification in a dual economy: A sectoral model of earnings determination. American Sociological Review, 43, 704–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benach, J., Benavides, F. G., Platt, S., Diez-Roux, A., & Muntaner, C. (2000). The health-damaging potential of new types of flexible employment: A challenge for public health researchers. American Journal of Public Health, 90, 1316–1317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berg, P., & Kalleberg, A. L. (2002, November). The effect of high performance work practices on job stress: Evidence from a survey of U.S. workers. Paper presented at the Organization, Intensity of Work, Quality of Work conference, Paris, France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg, P., Kalleberg, A. L., & Appelbaum, E. (2003). Balancing work and family: The role of high-commitment environments. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy & Society, 42, 168–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernhardt, A., Morris, M., Handcock, M. S., & Scott, M. A. (2001). Divergent paths: Economic mobility in the new American labor market. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billings, A. G., & Moos, R. H. (1982). Work stress and the stress-buffering roles of work and family resources. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 3, 215–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, F. D., & Beller, A. H. (1988). Trends in earnings differentials by gender: 1971–1981. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 41, 513–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolger, N., DeLongis, A., Kessler, R. C., & Wethington, E. (1989). The contagion of stress across multiple roles. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 175183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. H. (1973). Mental illness and the economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. H. (1976). Estimating the social costs of national economic policy: Implications for mental and physical health, and criminal aggression: A study prepared for the use of the joint economic committee, Congress of the United States. Washington, DC: GPO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. H. (1984). Estimating the effect of economic change on national health and social well-being: A study/prepared for the use of the subcommittee on economic goals and intergovernmental policy of the joint economic committee, Congress of the United States. Washington, DC: GPO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. H. (1987). Relation of economic change to Swedish health and social well-being. Social Science & Medicine, 25, 183–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. H. (1995). Political economy and health. In B. C. Amick III, S. Levine, A. R. Tarlov, & D. C. Walsh (Eds.), Society and health (pp. 211–246). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, M. H., & Mooney, A. (1983). Unemployment and health in the context of economic change. Social Science & Medicine, 17, 1125–1138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2005, July 27). Contingent and alternative employment arrangements, February 2005 (USDL-05–1433). Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.nr0.htm

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2011a, January 7). The employment situation-December 2010, (USDL-11–0002). Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_01072011.pdf

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2011b, January 20). Usual weekly earnings of wage and salary workers fourth quarter 2010 (USDL-11–0062). Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/wkyeng_01202011.pdf

  • Burgard, S. A., Brand, J. E., & House, J. S. (2009). Perceived job insecurity and worker health in the United States. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 777–785.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byron, K. (2005). A meta-analytic review of work-family conflict and its antecedents. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67, 169–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., French, J., Jr., Van Harrison, R., & Pinneau, S. R. (1975). Job demands and worker health: Main effects and occupational differences. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cappelli, P., Bassi, L., Katz, H., Knoke, D., Osterman, P., & Useem, M. (1997). Change at work: How American industry & workers are coping with corporate restructuring and what workers must do to take charge of their own careers. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R. (1989). Ecological factors in illness and disease. In H. E. Freeman & S. Levine (Eds.), Handbook of medical sociology (4th ed., pp. 87–101). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R., & Dooley, C. D. (1977). Economic predictors of depressed mood and stressful life events in a metropolitan community. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 18, 292–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R., & Dooley, D. (1979). The economy as stressor: A sectoral analysis. Review of Social Economy, 37, 175–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R., & Dooley, D. (1983). Health effects of economic instability: A test of economic stress hypothesis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 46–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R. A., Dooley, D., & Jackson, R. L. (1985). Economic antecedents of help seeking: Reformulation of time-series tests. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 26, 141–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R., Rook, K., & Dooley, D. (1986). Labor markets and help-seeking: A test of the employment security hypothesis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 27, 277–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, C.-A., & Brudney, J. L. (2009). A cross-sector comparison of using nonstandard workers: Explaining use and impacts on the employment relationship. Administration and Society., 41, 313–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clougherty, J. E., Souza, K., & Cullen, M. R. (2010). Work and its role in shaping the social gradient in health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186, 102–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, A. E., & Kalleberg, A. L. (2006). Family-friendly organizations? Work and family programs in the 1990s. Work and Occupations, 33, 191–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis-Blake, A., Broschak, J. P., & George, E. (2003). Happy together? How using nonstandard workers affects exit, voice, and loyalty among standard employees. Academy of Management Journal, 46, 475–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Cuyper, N., Sora, B., de Witte, H., Caballer, A., & Peiró, J. M. (2009). Organizations’ use of temporary employment and a climate of job insecurity among Belgian and Spanish permanent workers. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 30, 564–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Lange, A. H., Taris, T. W., Kompier, M. A., Houtman, I. L. D., & Bongers, P. M. (2003). “The very best of the millennium”: Longitudinal research and the demand-control-(support) model. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8, 282–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Witte, H. (1999). Job insecurity and psychological well-being: Review of the literature and exploration of some unresolved issues. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 155–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, D., & Catalano, R. (1984). Why the economy predicts help-seeking: A test of competing explanations. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 25, 160–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, D., Catalano, R., & Rook, K. S. (1988). Personal and aggregate unemployment and psychological symptoms. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 107–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, D., Catalano, R., & Wilson, G. (1994). Depression and unemployment: Panel findings from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 745–765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dooley, D., Prause, J., & Ham-Rowbottom, A. (2000). Financial stress, employment and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41, 421–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engels, F. (1958). The condition of the working class in England (W. O. Henderson & W. H. Chaloner, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (Original work published 1844)

    Google Scholar 

  • England, P., & McCreary, L. (1987). Integrating sociology and economics to study gender and work. In A. H. Stromberg, L. Larwood, & B. A. Gutek (Eds.), Women and work: An annual review (Vol. 2, pp. 143–172). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, R. J., & Ritter, C. (2001). Emotional labor, burnout, and inauthenticity: Does gender matter? Social Psychology Quarterly, 64, 146–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzion, D. (1984). Moderating effect of social support on the stress-burnout relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 615–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick, R., & Tausig, M. (1994). The macroeconomic context of job stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 266–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick, R., & Tausig, M. (2001). Scheduling stress: Family and health outcomes of shift work and schedule control. American Behavioral Scientist, 44, 1179–1198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick, R., & Tausig, M. (2004). The health and family-social consequences of shift work and schedule control: 1977 and 1997. In C. F. Epstein & A. L. Kalleberg (Eds.), Fighting for time: Shifting boundaries of work and social life (pp. 77–110). New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick, R., & Tausig, M. (2007). Work and the political economy of stress: Recontextualizing the study of mental health/illness in sociology. In W. R. Avison, J. D. McLeod, & B. A. Pescosolido (Eds.), Mental health, social mirror (pp. 143–168). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrie, J. E., Shipley, M. J., Stansfeld, S. A., & Marmot, M. G. (2002). Effects of chronic job insecurity and change in job security on self reported health, minor psychiatric morbidity, physiological measures, and health related behaviours in British civil servants: The Whitehall II Study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 450–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frone, M. R. (2000). Work-family conflict and employee psychiatric disorders: The National Comorbidity Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 888–895.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fullerton, A. S., & Wallace, M. (2007). Traversing the flexible turn: US workers’ perceptions of job security, 1977–2002. Social Science Research, 36, 201–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, P. E., & Schmitz, S. (2007). Gender differences in occupational distributions among workers. Monthly Labor Review, 130, 19–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geller, M. M., & Stroh, L. K. (1995). Careers in midlife and beyond: A fallow field in need of sustenance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 47, 232–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • George, E. (2003). External solutions and internal problems: The effects of employment externalization on internal workers’ attitudes. Organization Science, 14, 386–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glass, J. (1990). The impact of occupational segregation on working conditions. Social Forces, 68, 779–796.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, J., & Camarigg, V. (1992). Gender, parenthood, and job-family compatibility. The American Journal of Sociology, 98, 131–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glass, J. L., & Estes, S. B. (1997). The family responsive workplace. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 289–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glass, J., & Fujimoto, T. (1995). Employer characteristics and the provision of family responsive policies. Work and Occupations, 22, 380–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenhalgh, L., & Rosenblatt, Z. (1984). Job insecurity: Toward conceptual clarity. Academy of Management Review, 9, 438–448.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenhaus, J. H., & Beutell, N. J. (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Academy of Management Review, 10, 76–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grzywacz, J. G., & Bass, B. L. (2003). Work, family, and mental health: Testing different models of work-family fit. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 65, 248–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hachen, D. S., Jr. (1988). Gender differences in job mobility rates in the United States. Social Science Research, 17, 93–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammer, T. H., Saksvik, P. Ø., Nytrø, K., Torvatn, H., & Bayazit, M. (2004). Expanding the psychosocial work environment: Workplace norms and work-family conflict as correlates of stress and health. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9, 83–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häusser, J. A., Mojzisch, A., Niesle, M., & Schulz-Hardt, S. (2010). Ten years on: A review of recent research on the job demand-control(-support) model and psychological well-being. Work and Stress, 24, 1–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heaney, C. A., Israel, B. A., & House, J. S. (1994). Chronic job insecurity among automobile workers: Effects on job satisfaction and health. Social Science & Medicine, 38, 1431–1437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hipple, S. (2001). Contingent work in the late-1990s. Monthly Labor Review, 124, 3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz, A. V. (1984). The economy and social pathology. Annual Review of Sociology, 10, 95–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, K. (2007). The new labor market segmentation: Labor market dualism in the new economy. Social Science Research, 36, 286–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, D., Galinsky, E., & Morris, A. (1992). The effects of job characteristics on marital quality: Specifying linking mechanisms. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 31–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurrell, J. J., Jr. (1985). Machine-paced work and the type-A behaviour pattern. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 58, 15–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, P. B., & Saunders, T. (2006). Work stress, coping resources, and mental health: A study of America’s Black elite. In P. L. Perrewé & D. C. Ganster (Eds.), Employee health, coping and methodologies (pp. 139–170). New York: Elsevier.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Jahoda, M. (1988). Economic recession and mental health: Some conceptual issues. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 13–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joelson, L., & Wahlquist, L. (1987). The psychological meaning of job insecurity and job loss: Results of a longitudinal study. Social Science & Medicine, 25, 179–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. V., & Hall, E. M. (1988). Job strain, workplace social support, and cardiovascular disease: A cross-sectional study of a random sample of the Swedish working population. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 1336–1342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L. (2003). Flexible firms and labor market segmentation: Effects of workplace restructuring on jobs and workers. Work and Occupations, 30, 154–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L. (2009). Precarious work, insecure workers: Employment relations in transition. American Sociological Review, 74, 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L., Reskin, B. F., & Hudson, K. (2000). Bad jobs in America: Standard and nonstandard employment relations and job quality in the United States. American Sociological Review, 65, 256–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R. A., Jr. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R. A. (1991). The political implications of psychosocial work redesign: A model of the psychological class structure. In J. V. Johnson & G. Johansson (Eds.), The psychosocial work environment: Work organization, democratization and health (pp. 163–190). Amityville, NY: Baywood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R., & Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasek, R. A., Triantis, K. P., & Chaudhry, S. S. (1982). Coworker and supervisor support as moderators of associations between task characteristics and mental strain. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 3, 181–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelloway, E. K., Gottlieb, B. H., & Barham, L. (1999). The source, nature, and direction of work and family conflict: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 4, 337–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., House, J. S., & Turner, J. B. (1987). Unemployment and health in a community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 28, 51–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., Turner, J. B., & House, J. S. (1988). Effects of unemployment on health in a community survey: Main, modifying, and mediating effects. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 69–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., Turner, J. B., & House, J. S. (1989). Unemployment, reemployment, and emotional functioning in a community sample. American Sociological Review, 54, 648–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimäki, M., Vahtera, J., Pentti, J., Thomson, L., Griffiths, A., & Cox, T. (2001). Downsizing, changes in work, and self-rated health of employees: A 7-year 3-wave panel study. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 14, 59–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimäki, M., Vahtera, J., Virtanen, M., Elovainio, M., Pentti, J., & Ferrie, J. E. (2003). Temporary employment and risk of overall and cause-specific mortality. American Journal of Epidemiology, 158, 663–668.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klitzman, S., House, J. S., Israel, B. A., & Mero, R. P. (1990). Work stress, nonwork stress, and health. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 13, 221–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, M. L., Naoi, A., Schoenbach, C., Schooler, C., & Slomczynski, K. M. (1990). Position in the class structure and psychological functioning in the United States, Japan, and Poland. The American Journal of Sociology, 95, 964–1008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, M. L., & Schooler, C. (1983). Work and personality: An inquiry into the impact of social stratification. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornhauser, A. (1965). Mental health of the industrial worker: A Detroit study. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhnert, K. W., & Vance, R. J. (1992). Job insecurity and moderators of the relation between job insecurity and employee adjustment. In J. C. Quick, L. R. Murphy, & J. J. Hurrell Jr. (Eds.), Stress & well-being at work: Assessments and interventions for occupational mental health. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landsbergis, P. A., Cahill, J., & Schnall, P. (1999). The impact of lean production and related new systems of work organization on worker health. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 4, 108–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaRocco, J. M., House, J. S., & French, J. R. P., Jr. (1980). Social support, occupational stress, and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 202–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lennon, M. C., & Rosenfield, S. (1992). Women and mental health: The interaction of job and family conditions. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 33, 316–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liem, R., & Liem, J. H. (1988). Psychological effects of unemployment on workers and their families. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 87–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liem, R., & Rayman, P. (1984). Perspectives on unemployment, mental health, and social policy. International Journal of Mental Health, 13, 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N. (1986). Modeling the effects of social support. In N. Lin, A. Dean, & W. Ensel (Eds.), Social support, life events, and depression (pp. 173–209). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Link, B. G., Dohrenwend, B. P., & Skodol, A. E. (1986). Socio-economic status and schizophrenia: Noisome occupational characteristics as a risk factor. American Sociological Review, 51, 242–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Link, B. G., Lennon, M. C., & Dohrenwend, B. P. (1993). Socioeconomic status and depression: The role of occupations involving direction, control, and planning. The American Journal of Sociology, 98, 1351–1387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. (1995). Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 80–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo, M. (2010, August 31). New job means lower wages for many. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/us/01jobs.html

  • Macky, K., & Boxall, P. (2008). High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being: A study of New Zealand worker experiences. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 46, 38–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M. G., Bosma, H., Hemingway, H., Brunner, E., & Stansfeld, S. (1997). Contribution of job control and other risk factors to social variations in coronary heart disease incidence. Lancet, 350, 235–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M., Ryff, C. D., Bumpass, L. L., Shipley, M., & Marks, N. F. (1997). Social inequalities in health: Next questions and converging evidence. Social Science & Medicine, 44, 901–910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, J. R., & Funch, D. P. (1979). Mental illness and the economy: A critique and partial replication. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 20, 282–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1964). Early writings (T. B. Bottomore, Trans. & Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. (Original work published in 1843–1844)

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonough, P. (2000). Job insecurity and health. International Journal of Health Services: Planning, Administration, Evaluation, 30, 453–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesmer-Magnus, J. R., & Viswesvaran, C. (2006). How family-friendly work environments affect work/family conflict: A meta-analytic examination. Journal of Labor Research, 27, 555–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mészáros, I. (1970). Marx’s theory of alienation. London: Merlin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosisa, A. T. (2006). Foreign-born workforce, 2004: A visual essay. Monthly Labor Review, 129, 48–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Negrey, C. (1993). Gender, time, and reduced work. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Driscoll, M. P., Ilgen, D. R., & Hildreth, K. (1992). Time devoted to job and off-job activities, interrole conflict, and affective experiences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 272–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osterman, P. (1994). How common is workplace transformation and who adopts it? Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 47, 173–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osterman, P. (1995). Work/family programs and the employment relationship. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 681–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osterman, P. (2000). Work reorganization in an era of restructuring: Trends in diffusion and effects of employee welfare. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 53, 179–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, R. E. (1993). The labor force in transition: The growth of the contingent work force in the United States. In B. Berberoglu (Ed.), The labor process and control of labor: The changing nature of work relations in the late twentieth century (pp. 116–136). Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, S. K. (2003). Longitudinal effects of lean production on employee outcomes and the mediating role of work characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 620–634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, S. K., Griffin, M. A., Sprigg, C. A., & Wall, T. D. (2002). Effect of temporary contracts on perceived work characteristics and job strain: A longitudinal study. Personnel Psychology, 55, 689–719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, R., & Jones, J. G. (1987). Social class and re-employment: Changes in health and perceived financial circumstances. Journal of Occupational Behavior, 8, 175–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearlin, L. I. (1989). The sociological study of stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 241–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearlin, L. I. (1999). The stress process revisited: Reflections on concepts and their interrelationships. In C. S. Aneshensel & J. C. Phelan (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of mental health (pp. 395–415). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearlin, L. I., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrucci, C. C., Perrucci, R., Targ, D. B., & Targ, H. R. (1988). Plant closings: International context and social costs. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pescosolido, B. A., & Kronenfeld, J. J. (1995). Health, illness, and healing in an uncertain era: Challenges from and for medical sociology. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 5–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piotrkowski, C. S. (1979). Work and the family system: A naturalistic study of working-class and lower-middle-class families. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pleck, J. H., & Staines, G. L. (1985). Work schedules and family life in two-earner couples. Journal of Family Issues, 6, 61–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (1993). The new second generation: Segmented assimilation and its variants. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 530, 74–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Presser, H. B. (1995). Job, family, and gender: Determinants of nonstandard work schedules among employed Americans in 1991. Demography, 32, 577–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Presser, H. B. (2003). Race-ethnic and gender differences in nonstandard work shifts. Work and Occupations, 30, 412–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pugliesi, K. (1999). The consequences of emotional labor: Effects on work stress, job satisfaction, and well-being. Motivation and Emotion, 23, 125–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinlan, M., Mayhew, C., & Bohle, P. (2001). The global expansion of precarious employment, work disorganization, and consequences for occupational health: A review of recent research. International Journal of Health Services: Planning, Administration, Evaluation, 31, 335–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rich, M. (2010, July 1). Factory jobs return, but employers find skills shortage. New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/business/economy/02manufacturing.html

  • Rosenfield, S. (1989). The effects of women’s employment: Personal control and sex differences in mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 77–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saloniemi, A., Virtanen, P., & Vahtera, J. (2004). The work environment in fixed-term jobs: Are poor psychosocial conditions inevitable? Work, Employment and Society, 18, 193–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schieman, S., Milkie, M. A., & Glavin, P. (2009). When work interferes with life: Work-nonwork interference and the influence of work-related demands and resources. American Sociological Review, 74, 966–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sears, H. A., & Galambos, N. L. (1992). Women’s work conditions and marital adjustment in two-earner couples: A structural model. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 789–797.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, V. (1997). New forms of work organization. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 315–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starrin, B., Lunberg, B., Angelow, B., & Wall, H. (1989). Unemployment, overtime work, and work intensity. In B. Starrin, P.-G. Svensson, & H. Wintersberger (Eds.), Unemployment, poverty, and quality of working life: Some European experiences (pp. 261–275). Berlin, Germany: World Health Organization, European Regional Office and the European Center for Social Welfare Training and Research, Education Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sverke, M., Hellgren, J., & Näswall, K. (2002). No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7, 242–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. (1993). Macroeconomic and social class influences on the relationship between work and stress. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 12, 361–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. (1999). Recession and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. (2001). Unbinding time: Alternate work schedules and work-life balance. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 22, 101–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tausig, M., & Fenwick, R. (2011). Work and mental health in social context. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, L. T., & Ganster, D. C. (1995). Impact of family-supportive work variables on work-family conflict and strain: A control perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 6–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, C. (1991). Reasons for the continuing growth of part-time employment. Monthly Labor Review, 114, 10–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (1993). Labor process inequality and the gender and race composition of jobs. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 12, 215–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, J. B. (1995). Economic context and the health effects of unemployment. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36, 213–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vallas, S. P. (1999). Rethinking post-Fordism: The meaning of workplace flexibility. Sociological Theory, 17, 68–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Doef, M., & Maes, S. (1999). The job demand-control(-support) model and psychological well-being: A review of 20 years of empirical research. Work and Stress, 13, 87–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virtanen, M., Kivimäki, M., Joensuu, M., Virtanen, P., Elovainio, M., & Vahtera, J. (2005). Temporary employment and health: A review. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34, 610–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virtanen, P., Liukkonen, V., Vahtera, J., Kivimäki, M., & Koskenvuo, M. (2003). Health inequalities in the workforce: The labour market core-periphery structure. International Journal of Epidemiology, 32, 1015–1021.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voydanoff, P. (1988). Work role characteristics, family structure demands, and work/family conflict. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 749–761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldinger, R., Lim, N., & Cort, D. (2007). Bad jobs, good jobs, no jobs? The employment experience of the Mexican American second generation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33, 1–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warr, P., & Jackson, P. (1985). Factors influencing the psychological impact of prolonged unemployment and of re-employment. Psychological Medicine, 15, 795–807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren, J. R., Hoonakker, P., Carayon, P., & Brand, J. (2004). Job characteristics as mediators in SES-health relationships. Social Science & Medicine, 59, 1367–1378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winnubst, J. A. M., Marcelissen, F. H. G., & Kleber, R. J. (1982). Effects of social support in the stressor-strain relationship: A Dutch sample. Social Science & Medicine, 16, 475–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, E. O., Baxter, J., & Birkelund, G. E. (1995). The gender gap in workplace authority: A cross-national study. American Sociological Review, 60, 407–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325-2101, USA

    Mark Tausig

Authors
  1. Mark Tausig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Tausig .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Carol S. Aneshensel

  2. Department of Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Jo C. Phelan

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Alex Bierman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tausig, M. (2013). The Sociology of Work and Well-Being. In: Aneshensel, C.S., Phelan, J.C., Bierman, A. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5_21

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation