Summary

What is dignity in and at work? How is it experienced differently by different groups of working people? Are there enduring divisions of dignity: unequal access to what is accepted to be a fundamental human right? How can we ensure that continued opportunities are available for the creation, maintenance and restoration of dignity at work? This edited collection of papers investigates the concept of dignity and what it means to people in their working lives: how we are perceived and valued as people in the workplace. Contributors to over a century of social and organizational analysis have talked about dignity at work, but the discussion has tended to take place under headings such as citizenship, satisfaction, mutuality, pride in work, responsible autonomy and ontological security, or to focus on mismanagement, over-long hours, a poor working environment, workplace bullying and harassment as the central facilitator of indignity at work. Dignity in and at work is a far more complex phenomenon than these representations would suggest. Neither is it enough to suggest that equal opportunity, work life balance and anti-bullying policies restore dignity to work, valuable interventions though they are in themselves. The papers featured in this edited collection suggest that we see dignity reordered and experienced in different ways depending on our own circumstances and viewpoints.