Man & Work provides a comprehensive overview of European literature focusing on the changing role of work and its impact on industrial society. The problem of work and its role in society is of fundamental importance to our civilization. Work is economic necessity; yet the relationship of man to work cannot be limited to physical survival alone, since it is inextricably linked with our humanity. In tracing the various related and contrasting views David Meakin covers such vital topics as the nostalgia for roots and permanence, the exaltation of technology, the emergence of anarchism and revolutionary syndicalism, and the concept of creativity, which leads on to the relationship between art and work, and the idea of non-fragmented, organic living.

The dangers of the ethic of work, in particular its exploitation by fascist ideologies, are also considered. Fully integrating both the literary and sociological evidence, the argument ranges widely from the thought of Marx, Freud, Marcuse, Carlyle, Ruskin, William Morris, Huizinga, Péguy, and Simone Weil to the writings of Lawrence, Hardy, Tolstoy, Jünger, Kaiser, Zola, Camus, and Wesker. The author concludes by surveying various solutions proposed and argues the urgency of such speculation for the future of democracy in its deepest sense. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of literature, philosophy and sociology.