Work Values in the United States: Age, Period, and Generational Differences

• Date: 01 March 2019
• Author: Arne L. Kalleberg,Peter V. Marsden
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716218822291
• Subject Matter: Conceptual Clarifications on Work Attitudes

822291ANN
The Annals of The American AcademyWork Values in the United States
research-article2018
this article examines how processes of aging, genera-
tional shifts, and changes over historical time periods
shape differences in work values in the United States.
Our analyses of data from the General Social Survey and
the International Social Survey Program show that
changes over historical time periods are most consistently
responsible for differences in work values. In particular,
during recent periods, Americans tend to place greater
importance on jobs that provide security, high income,
Work Values in and opportunities for advancement; this is consistent with
a narrative that these job rewards have become more dif-
the United
ficult to attain recently and are thus more problematic for
workers. Some differences in work values are also attrib-
utable to aging or life course processes, especially the
States: Age, greater importance placed on high income during the
mid-life years when family responsibilities are generally
Period, and greatest. by contrast, we find few differences in work
values among members of different generations or
cohorts. We also find that people from less advantaged
Generational social origins and those with greater labor market
resources are more likely to value economic rewards.
Differences
Keywords: work values; age, period and cohort
effects; central life interest
Work values reflect the importance people
place on work and its various facets. they
By
are central to theories of work motivation that
ArNe L. KALLeberG
highlight reasons that people work and the
and
kinds of rewards and benefits that influence
Peter V. MArSDeN
their job satisfaction (Kalleberg 1977). Work
values also provide insights into workers’ goals
Arne L. Kalleberg is a Kenan Distinguished Professor of
Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. He served as the president of the American
Sociological Association in 2007–8 and is currently the
editor of Social Forces, an international journal of
social research.
Peter V. Marsden is the Edith and Benjamin Geisinger
Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. He is an
expert in organizations and social networks who has
served as editor of Sociological Methodology and as a
co-principal investigator of the General Social Survey.
Correspondence: arnekal@email.unc.edu
DOI: 10.1177/0002716218822291
ANNALS, AAPSS, 682, March 2019 43

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tHe ANNALS OF tHe AMerICAN ACADeMY
and aspirations (e.g., Goldthorpe et al. 1968). Americans, for example, tradition-
ally place great importance on the search for job security and the belief in oppor-
tunity (bernstein 1997).
A key research question is how work values differ over time and among people
of different ages or generations. Such temporal differences shed light on social
transformations in the conceptions and ideologies of work that characterize a
society, as well as on changes that individuals undergo during their life courses.
these questions are complex: at a given point in time, age- and generation-
related differences in work values cannot be distinguished from one another,
while over-time differences may be due to cohorts or generations, aging, time
periods, or some mixture of the three sources.1
First, ever since Mannheim highlighted the “problem of generations”
(1927/1952), social scientists have sought to identify generationally or cohort-
distinctive values that reflect the shared experiences of people who are born at
the same time and mature together. recent speculation about the distinctive
work values of Millennials (e.g., Pfau 2016; Quiggin 2018) is reminiscent of simi-
lar questions raised by scholars about previous generations such as Generation X,
the baby boomers, the Greatest and Silent Generations, and so on (see e.g.,
Howe and Strauss 1991; Lorence 1987).
Second, variations in work values may be due to experiences linked to aging,
such as developmental or situational life course dynamics that recur over time
periods and across generations. During their life courses, people of different ages
vary in their psychological adjustments to work and other social roles, producing
dissimilarities in their needs from—and attachments to—work and what they feel
is important to obtain from jobs (e.g., Kalleberg and Loscocco 1983).
third, differences in work values could also be due to the specific social, eco-
nomic, and cultural features of the time periods in which people live. Different
historical periods are characterized by particular society-wide ideals about work,
and by differential opportunities to obtain intrinsic and extrinsic job rewards due
to varying economic conditions and the ways in which work is structured; these
characteristics of an historical period are also likely to affect what people come
to see as important about work.
this complexity underlying temporal differences in work values helps to
explain important gaps and inconsistencies in our understanding of how these
work-related attitudes come about. For example, in contrast to widespread
speculation about generational differences in work values, a meta-analysis of
twenty published and unpublished studies concluded that few differences among
generations exist, and those that do are as likely to be attributable to life course
stage as to generation (Costanza et al. 2012).
Our overarching research question, then, is about the extent to which pro-
cesses of aging, generational shifts, and changes across time periods are respon-
sible for observed differences in work values in the United States. A second
research question is whether inequality in social origins and labor market
resources help to account for differences in work values. Our analyses are based
on data from the General Social Survey and the International Social Survey
Program.

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WOrK VALUeS IN tHe UNIteD StAteS
45
We begin with an overview of general theoretical approaches to explaining
temporal differences in work values, and then state hypotheses related to cohort/
generational, aging/life course, and time period differences, as well as to some
mechanisms related to social class, resources, and origins. We adopt a multi-
dimensional view of work values, considering the importance people place on
work generally, as well as their emphasis on specific work facets such as earnings,
security, advancement, and intrinsic qualities that make working meaningful
(e.g., opportunities to exercise autonomy and to help others and society).
thereafter, we discuss our data and methods, present and summarize our find-
ings, and discuss their implications for theory and research.
explaining temporal Differences in Work Values
People differ in their work values because they reside in diverse social settings
and have different individual needs and dispositions (see Salancik and Pfeffer
1977). Sociological theories of work values emphasize the significant influences
of social contexts in shaping and altering preferences. their explanations of time-
related differences in work values are rooted in two sets of theories. roughly,
these can be distinguished by whether the locus of mechanisms shaping work
values lies outside of and/or prior to work lives, or inside work contexts, reflecting
experience acquired during work careers.2
theories that emphasize the importance of a person’s experiences outside the
work context for work values focus on socialization in the family of origin, learn-
ing while in school, and other factors arising before labor force entry. Social
backgrounds shape the importance people place on work, while both human and
social capital help people to obtain work that is consistent with these work values.
Such theories point to group affiliations, circumstances, and experiences outside
of work that influence the importance people assign to job facets and prompt
them to try to select jobs with particular attributes (and employers to select work-
ers who hold certain values).
the significance attached to particular aspects of jobs and work itself differs
among social classes (Kohn 1969), reflecting variations in social norms and cul-
tures as well as in the opportunities people have to realize economic and noneco-
nomic rewards from jobs. Work values shaped by these early influences become
increasingly stable in the years after high school (Johnson 2001). Several other
articles in this volume of The ANNALS (e.g., Sümer, Pauknerova, and Vancea;
Schuck and Shore) rely on this account of work values in explaining how parental
resources affect the values of their children.
the second set of theories focuses on how experiences within work contexts
during one’s work career may change the importance people place on various job
facets. Such theories highlight how job incumbency, other workplace events, and
labor force experiences affect the aspects of jobs that workers come to see as
more or less important. there are two different psychological mechanisms by
which work experiences might shape work values: reinforcement (prompting

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tHe ANNALS OF tHe AMerICAN ACADeMY
people to value what they already have); and problematic rewards (emphasizing
job rewards that people are less...