A Cultural History of Work

A Cultural History of Work presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. The set of six volumes covers a span of 2500 years, tracing where and how people have worked in different cultures and societies. It explores what work has meant for both individuals and society more generally and how work has influenced and been influenced by politics, art and religion. Examining the history of work offers an invaluable insight into the way past societies thought, behaved and developed as we learn more about one of the fundamental aspects of life throughout the ages.

1. A Cultural History of Work in Antiquity (500 BCE - 800 CE)
2. A Cultural History of Work in the Medieval Age (800 - 1450)
3. A Cultural History of Work in the Early Modern Age (1450 - 1650)
4. A Cultural History of Work in the Age of Enlightenment (1650 - 1800)
5. A Cultural History of Work in the Age of Empire (1800 - 1920)
6. A Cultural History of Work in the Modern Age (1920 - present)

Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters: The Economy of Work; Picturing Work; Work and Workplaces; Workplace Cultures; Work, Skill and Technology; Work and Mobility; Work and Society; The Political Culture of Work; and Work and Leisure.

This structure offers readers a broad overview of a period within each volume or the opportunity to follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter across volumes.

Deborah Simonton is Associate Professor of British History at the University of Southern Denmark and Visiting Professor at the University of Turku, Finland. She is the author of A History of European Women's Work, 1700 to the present (1998) and Women in European Culture and Society: Gender, Skill and Identity (2011). She is also the editor of the Routledge History of Women in Modern Europe, 1700 to the present (2006).

Anne Montenach is Associate Professor of Early Modern History at Aix-Marseille University, France. She is the co-editor, along with Deborah Leigh Simonton and Marjo Kaartinen, of Luxury and Gender in European Towns, 1700-1914 (2014) and, with Deborah Leigh Simonton, of Gender and Urban Development: Gender in European Towns, 1640-1830 (2013).