How to Measure (New) Work Situations

Abstract

On the individual level work is a formative element of people’s life cycle. On the collective level the organisation of work represents an element that structures the whole society. This fact makes work a central and crucial category in the social sciences; not at least because theoretical constructs like occupational prestige, socio-economic status and social class revert to work- related information. Survey research has so far neglected the necessity to take the tremendous changes in the world of work and employment into consideration. The transformation of most European countries from industrial societies to information societies has been characterised by the introduction of information and communication technologies into the average daily working routine. It has created new opportunities for flexibility concerning working time and working place.