“Loving your Work (Unfortunately, the Privilege of a Few)”: Primo Levi and What Makes Life and Work Meaningful

Ideas of work as a source of happiness and self-flourishing are ever-expanding in the literature of psychology, particularly positive psychology. These ideas have led to numerous academic texts exploring the notion of meaningful work, which sparks discussions about employees' responsibility in achieving harmonious employment. While this view emphasizes the existence of work as fulfilling and personally satisfying, it also carries the danger of overlooking the societal, organizational, and relational dynamics that operate within work. These can potentially undermine subjective well-being or bring oppressive and negative conditions to the subject. In this paper, we draw on the ever-expanding psychological literature on meaningful work, while also highlighting the need for psychology to reexamine the understanding of the circumstances, experiences, and social structures of contemporary work. We do so by engaging with the reading of a literary text, Primo Levi's The Wrench (1978). In the novel, the characters engage in conversations about work and are reminded of the quest for meaningful work, which makes life bearable. According to the characters' perspective, work does not appear as a function for meaning per se (in a neoliberal sense), but rather, this is a privilege of a few who can love their work (in the sense, rhythmic, embodied, and socially structuring function stabilizing life). Using thematic reading of the text, we rediscuss the concept of work as a source of meaning and the conditions under which work can be experienced as meaningful. Our goal is to restore the balance in the understanding of meaningful work, considering its societal, organizational, and relational dynamics.