Changing Work Values: Beyond Hustle Culture

For a long time, working culture has been associated with hustling aspects, stressing productivity, constant devotion, and presentialism. Recently, alternative tendencies valuing more personal satisfaction, well-being, and self-realization in different domains of life other than work have resulted in emerging phenomena in contrast to the dominant hustle culture. These phenomena include the Great Resignation, “boomerang employees,” “quiet quitting”, and “quiet thriving.” While cultural changes were already in place, as suggested by data from the European Values Study (EVS), the Covid-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for the shift in values that drives workers to reassess the meaning of and satisfaction with their work. Building on Bauman’s perspective on societal change, this contribution aims to offer a sociological interpretation of the ongoing dynamics underlying the change in work values.