ABSTRACT
The quotes that start this chapter describe aspects of working that have often been overlooked or ignored to date-the intimate, complex, and challenging interactions between working and interpersonal life. In the three opening contributions, two diverse trajectories are conveyed about the interconnections between working and interpersonal relationships. In the first passage, which is from Newman’s (1999) book about urban youth working in fast-food restaurants, jobs that initially may be viewed as dead-end with little to no positive benefit except for the pay are described as offering a valuable opportunity for connection. In contrast, the poem entitled “A Death at the Office” reveals a profound sense of alienation and disconnection among fellow workers, who treat a colleague’s death with rituals that have been robbed of their emotional depth. The third vignette describes the potential for interpersonal connection in styling hair; the protagonist gives voice to the fundamental need for relatedness in an evocative way, reflecting aspects of working that are often not explicit in traditional scholarship and mental health practice. These three contributions describe an overlapping web of interconnections that exist within the shared space of working and interpersonal relationships. In this chapter, I expand this view by offering a multidimensional examination of working and relationships, with the objective of exploring the complex ways in which work and interpersonal life intersect. Moreover, the function of work in connecting people to the social world, both symbolically and experientially, is detailed in this chapter.
