Meaningful Work

Name of Student

Name of Professor

Name of Class

Day Month Year

Meaningful Work

What makes work meaningful?

There are many kinds of work, but the term meaningful work is something that we all want to do in order to have some benefits. Any work that is going to give a person anything meaningful that would be helpful in his life would make his work meaningful. Work could be made meaningful by adding element of struggle in it. If one is doing work that he loves to do then such type of work would give him pleasure in all the aspects of life. Motivation is another major thing that can make work meaningful.

What makes it degrading?

None of the work is degrading if it is done in a professional way and emotion is the only thing that would make you feel whether something is degrading or not. Roberta in her interview states that the worst of her job is to get enter into someone’s bedroom with emotions. If emotions were involved in her job, than there would be nothing less than to be called a call girl. According to Roberta it is the mentality of a person that makes a work degrading. If one is doing a work, he/she should blend himself/herself with normal society so that they are not going to be noticed as someone doing any degraded work. She even quoted that prostitution is just like a normal nine to five job. Prostitution is just like a regular job like the rest of the jobs.

Reflection on Roberta’s views of prostitution a normal job:

Roberta being a call girl used to believe that she is doing a normal job just like the rest of the American women. According to her, prostitution was like a simple business transaction. According to my point of view, Roberta is right in her perspective that she is making money just like other people who work in a time-bound working shift that starts from 9 am to 5 am. Prostitutes also sacrifices a lot just like other people who get up early in the morning and travel miles for reaching their workplace along with negating lots of precious moments of their life as well. I agree with her that she is just doing a normal job in which she is being paid for entertaining her clients. It would be not wrong to say that she may sacrifice her self-respect that could be one of the toughest things to do.

What are the common patterns of experience?

Nature of any work looks same to some extent so by looking at this fact it could be said that there are many common patterns of experience in nature of work of Roberta and other people in regards to experience of working. Any work needs input, time, struggle and sacrifices that could be looked upon as few of the common factors in the experience of other working people and prostitution.

Purpose and satisfying the action of working:

There is always a purpose behind any work. No one wants to waste his energy and time. Everyone put their efforts for achieving some goals. For instance, a student is going to work hard and may study for hours by putting an extra effort just for achieving his set goals. It has been seen that students who work hard they would be having a purpose of securing high position and bright future. In case of Roberta, it has been observed that luxurious life, stylish dresses, meal in a classy restaurants and making lots of money were the only few purposes of Roberta. Satisfaction is another thing that comes in meaningful work as it could be seen that Roberta feels satisfaction and takes her profession of prostitution as a normal profession like other. Everyone demands self- satisfaction after doing any work. Sense of satisfaction after doing any work is a kind of indication that purpose of that work has been achieved.

Cost of work?

It is a fact that work of all sorts cost something always. It is rightly said, "no pain, no gain”. Labor is going to sacrifice his physical comforts for earning his bread. Similarly, maybe the cost of Roberta is a sacrifice of self-respect and emotions that would raise a question about her profession if she is going to think about herself deeply.

Where people find meaning and dignity in work?

People find dignity and meaning in the appreciation of their work if they are going to have positive feedback from their work would be meaningful and dignified. Self-satisfaction is one of the things from which one is going to find his meaning and dignity of work.

Introduction of meaningful work:

According to Marx, meaningful work required for both physical and mental work. By spotting a light on the views of people who have great experience in their life, it could be said that the conception of Marxism applies to their lives (Terkel,et,al,2011). According to Marx in meaningful work, there are two aspects; firstly a person is going to do meaningful work for reducing pain of others. Secondly may be a person is going to be a source for doing meaningful work to fill other’s life with happiness.

Terkel’s introduction of meaningful work:

According to Terkel, work is a kind of violence that could be spiritual, emotional and physical etc. By looking at the ideologies and conception of people whose working experience are mentioned, it could be concluded that for earning daily bread, it is crucial to give importance to the meaningfulness of work.

Gladwell’s summary on meaningful work:

According to Gladwell, meaningful work is one of the most important things that should be inculcated in children that would facilitate them throughout their life. Autonomous work is the only meaningful work that becomes tough with the passage along with success and would occupy one’s mind. There is a direct relationship between input and output, and if one is going to put more efforts, he is going to have more output as well.

Works Cited

Terkel, Studs. Working: People talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. The New Press, 2011.