Privacy and work

Norbert Ebert

pp. 133-148

in: Harry Blatterer, Pauline Johnson, Maria R. Markus (eds), Modern privacy, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on the relationship between work and privacy in late modern societies. Work holds an obscure position when it comes to distinguishing between the private and the public spheres. On the one hand, with the rise of modernity, work helps to define how we see ourselves and the way in which we live. Questions of income, qualifications and lifestyle have become indispensable reference points for identity based on work. On the other hand, while the sphere of work readily lends itself to establishing personal markers for identity in the private sphere, it plays an equally important role in the definition and maintenance of the public sphere, economically as well as politically. Baldly put, work is messy and seeps through each and every facet of our lives. Depending on the perspective we choose, work cannot be located within either the public or the private sphere alone. It has no clear boundaries and probably never had, and yet, maybe because of its fluidity, it still allows us insights into certain aspects of privacy today.