Work 2.0: How Young People Are Redefining the Meaning of Work Today

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Sonia Bertolini, Elena Gobbino
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/171
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 102-122 File size 180 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2025-171005
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The article explores the debate on the importance of work in the lives of individuals, focusing particularly on young people and their attitudes toward work, which are often labeled by the media as disengagement or rejection. The phenomenon of voluntary resignations is frequently associated with this generation: the goal of the analysis is to understand their work expectations through an approach based on both quantitative and qualitative data. The study uses a survey conducted in Italy and data from the European Value Study (EVS) to outline the evolution of the meaning attributed to work over time. The qualitative part, based on interviews with a sample of young people aged between 18 and 34 carried out in 2024, delves into the reasons for the change, revealing not a refusal of work, but the emergence of new values and new ways of transitioning towards adult life.

Keywords: youth; work; meaning; transition to adult life

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Sonia Bertolini, Elena Gobbino, Lavoro 2.0: come i giovani ridefiniscono il significato del lavoro oggi in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 171/2025, pp 102-122, DOI: 10.3280/SL2025-171005