Just seventeen pages long, the essay sums up for me what is most important about work – people. His character as well as his approach to the art of interviewing are artfully captured in his introduction. Working remains fresh because Terkel’s humanity and warmth comes through on virtually every page. But it’s harder than you might think to see obsolescence here. Few of the people in the pages of Working in 1972 would have seen a computer, less likely used one. For sure, the technology that workers use in their jobs has changed. To my surprize, many of the jobs and occupations Terkel asked about in his interviews still exist: receptionists and police officers, spot welders and carpenters, factory owners to waitresses and so on. Instead, I was reminded how vital Working is. I thought it might really be showing its age - after all, fifty years is a long career. I know the book well, but in writing this piece I leafed through it again to think about the changing nature of work across that half a century. From the Terkel archive, it’s clear that his interest in work was long standing and went well beyond the USA. I first encountered it as a student, and in the passing years Working - or to give it its rarely used full title Working: People Talk About What they Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do – has shaped profoundly the way I think and teach about work.įirst published in January 1972, Working is a baggy collection of over seven-hundred and sixty pages, most devoted to the reflections of ordinary Americans about their economic lives. It’s a book that both reflects and helps to explain working-class life. As I prepared to teach my module on work this year, I realised that Studs Terkel’s book Working celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2022.

Working by Studs Terkel