To Mean Is To Be Perceived: Studying the Meaning of Work Through the Eyes of Others
指出以往研究仅从工人自身视角理解工作意义，主张引入第三方视角（如口述史和悼念文章）来揭示他人如何感知工作的意义，为学者提供新的数据来源和分析思路。
Social scientific research on the meaning of work has depended mostly on workers’ own reports. These reports have contributed to our understanding of what makes work meaningful. However, research has treated the meaning of work as an individual-level phenomenon evaluated from a worker’s perspective. This empirical path does not capture how meaning is influenced by the perspectives of others. This paper asserts that research based on personal observations and experience limits our understanding of the meaning of work. We use accounts from third-person perspectives to show how meaning is perceived by someone other than the worker. We advocate the use of novel data sources that consider the meaning of work seen through the eyes of others. We develop two examples: the collected oral histories in Studs Terkel’s Working and the “Portraits of Grief” from the New York Times, narratives based on interviews with relatives and friends of 9/11 attack victims. In both cases, diverse people reflect on the place of work in a meaningful life. Third-person perspectives offer unique insight and practical guidance on what work means and how it is viewed by others. These views also mirror broad societal values about the importance of work in life.