The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation
Anti-work refers to a contentious rejection of work as a determinant of one's self-worth or worth to society. The most central principle is that work requires the submission of the individual's free will for the benefit of the organization and that this has negative consequences for worker...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002931 |
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| author | Samantha Sinclair Artur Nilsson Kristoffer Holm |
| author_facet | Samantha Sinclair Artur Nilsson Kristoffer Holm |
| author_sort | Samantha Sinclair |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Anti-work refers to a contentious rejection of work as a determinant of one's self-worth or worth to society. The most central principle is that work requires the submission of the individual's free will for the benefit of the organization and that this has negative consequences for workers' well-being. Even though the anti-work movement has grown rapidly in recent years, research on this phenomenon is scarce. This preregistered study (N = 2595) aimed to examine the relation between anti-work orientation and a range of socio-political attitudes, as well as its prevalence among different demographic groups in Sweden. The results revealed that anti-democratic attitudes and anti-hierarchical aggression were the strongest socio-political predictors of anti-work attitudes, followed by support for censorship and partisanship. Furthermore, voters of both the left party and the right-wing populist party were overrepresented among individuals scoring high on anti-work orientation, suggesting an “extremism” effect at both ends of the political spectrum. The strongest demographic predictors were young age and low income. Interestingly, latent class analysis revealed that men were strongly overrepresented in both the class of anti-work-supporters and the class with low anti-work orientation. These findings add new insights into the growing political discourse around the nature of work. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7124aeed35f246cd8339c669c4c2749b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2590-2911 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-7124aeed35f246cd8339c669c4c2749b2025-08-20T03:23:02ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112025-01-011110156510.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101565The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientationSamantha Sinclair0Artur Nilsson1Kristoffer Holm2Dept. of Psychology, Linnæus University, SE-351 95, Växjö, Sweden; Corresponding author.Dept. of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden; Dept. of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Post box 7807, 5020, Bergen, NorwayCentre for Work Life and Evaluation Studies, Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University, 205 06, Malmö, SwedenAnti-work refers to a contentious rejection of work as a determinant of one's self-worth or worth to society. The most central principle is that work requires the submission of the individual's free will for the benefit of the organization and that this has negative consequences for workers' well-being. Even though the anti-work movement has grown rapidly in recent years, research on this phenomenon is scarce. This preregistered study (N = 2595) aimed to examine the relation between anti-work orientation and a range of socio-political attitudes, as well as its prevalence among different demographic groups in Sweden. The results revealed that anti-democratic attitudes and anti-hierarchical aggression were the strongest socio-political predictors of anti-work attitudes, followed by support for censorship and partisanship. Furthermore, voters of both the left party and the right-wing populist party were overrepresented among individuals scoring high on anti-work orientation, suggesting an “extremism” effect at both ends of the political spectrum. The strongest demographic predictors were young age and low income. Interestingly, latent class analysis revealed that men were strongly overrepresented in both the class of anti-work-supporters and the class with low anti-work orientation. These findings add new insights into the growing political discourse around the nature of work.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002931Anti-WorkAntiworkSocio-political attitudesPolitical affiliation |
| spellingShingle | Samantha Sinclair Artur Nilsson Kristoffer Holm The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation Social Sciences and Humanities Open Anti-Work Antiwork Socio-political attitudes Political affiliation |
| title | The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation |
| title_full | The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation |
| title_fullStr | The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation |
| title_full_unstemmed | The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation |
| title_short | The worth of work: Socio-political and demographic correlates of anti-work orientation |
| title_sort | worth of work socio political and demographic correlates of anti work orientation |
| topic | Anti-Work Antiwork Socio-political attitudes Political affiliation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002931 |
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