Introduction: Work: Listen to the following debate about identity in time in the age of mass individualism.

A: I've been thinking about this, this afternoon and it dawns on me that one of the most comfortable ways in which we classify each other is by our profession. In fact, when you meet somebody possibly within the first 10 to 15 minutes of meeting somebody, you almost bound to have lost what it is they do and you mean a job. B: Well, this is special in Americanism. What's more, an European thing. (...) C: Is it? B: I think we do it. C: We certainly do it a lot here. Actually, it skirts around (...) A: Why do we skirt then? (...) B: (...) embarrassing because they might do a job which is in some sense embarrassing (...) There is a difference in level (...) a man would not have to (...) A: Ok, so why are the Americans embarrassed? What am I meeting rocket scientists? (?) B: Well, the Americans will ask what will you learn (....) C: Sure. Conversations about your profession, your salary or how much your house cost (...) B: (Somebody...) C: Yeah, in the US is quite common (...) A: One of the things I find curious is the idea that that's very top of the list the question to ask somebody, and at the same time and being English (?). I am very ambivalent about giving that as a label. I think I have all my working life I don't feel my job defines me. I feel much more comfortable talking about what else it is ideal and that makes me come or I think it makes me sound much more fulfilled as a person and much more interesting, but is that because I've never had a fulfilling job. I don't know what does everybody is thinking. D: I think that if your job is vocational it does define you. And perhaps you jobs have not been vocational. I don't know. A: What do you mean by vocational? D: Usually people who go with caring professions like doctors and nurses do it because they have some need inside themselves to do that. B and D: ... (Don't know what they say) B: But also an amount of people who are maybe academics researchers, actors, performers have been recording about being socially useful.

C: You know, when you end up in the US what happens a lot is people have gone to college or university and studied a certain degree if it's not something like medicine or law, you find a lot of people aren't actually working in what they studied, in the field that they studied. B: ... (Don't know what he says) C: (...) for example (...) a four year university degree. What's more important in a job is the fact that you've gone to university and graduated with some degree, not really what you studied. B: We don't hope to find people whether they've gone to university, what they studied (...) question trying to meeting someone (...) A: (...) certainly not as fast as a job would (...) I actually think we've left out but the long way behind culturally. I know a lot of people who are extremely successful, don't have any problem in presenting themselves as successful and if you get as far as what did you study in university, I didn't go to university. I'm quite happy to say "No, I decided that I wanted to get almost all working as soon as well". So in fact that was my rationale for a while in fact. B: ... (Don't know what he says) A: ... (Don't know what she says) B: So you're talking about being defined by your hobbies. Did you think the other people would fall into that? A: I did. I think the difficulty is that I am very ambivalent about the fact that I've... if I stop and think about it, I have fallen into a trap. I'm the very fact that I use that phrase that says something about me. I'm doing a job that fulfils a function but doesn't fulfil my desires. B: Are you okay with that? A: Yes, partly because I'm lazy because when I stop and think about what my ideal job is and what it would take to get there that feels like too much hard work. So I'm gonna stay doing what I, security is a big issue for me. Security is a big issue in having discovered security I'm hanging on to it I also know that it allows me to have a fulfilling (hobby?) so I would say that that's a good balance and a good (pay off?). D: How odious is your job? How odious is your job? A: It's not at all odious. It's a job that a lot of people would cover; it just doesn't fulfil me particularly intellectually (and I spend awful amount of hours?) at work and that's not very comfortable and that's part of being English. I know that I'm staying there in order to continue to have the security that that job gives me. But in an ideal world I wouldn't want to do more with the job and I don't feel the space to do that but I think a lot of people are in my situation. C: Sure, I... I think there are a lot of people like you but I also think that I've met a lot of people that are okay working a in some sort of menial job. They work 40 hours a week and it's not the ideal job but they're okay with that because that allows them to do whatever hobbies they have. B: (Well, I couldn't do them...?)

C: Yeah, me neither. B: I need to get a certain minor satisfaction to work. C: Sure. B: But I think that always the world is divided into between people who (do some things to...) and some spend far too much time doing that for too little money which in my case (...) (are people who do the shift 24/7...do anything...) (because the only opportunity at the weekend to do things they want...) C: Do you think those things go hand in hand if you work in something that you enjoy you end up that... that work will end up dominating your life well as if you are doing is some sort of work just to get by or just for the security purposes(...) B: That's the dream of everybody, is to be in a sort of (...) a situation where you do something which you enjoy, you think youre good at (...) if you do something you're good at you start to saving money from that (?) (...) that's the dream (...) I'mma think (...) with vocational things but they never get to the stage where (there are anyone who think to compensate ... public compensation for the ...satisfaction...). A: Ok, I think I'm definitely putting in you because I can see there's a line down the middle of the room here. I think it is an agenda issue very strongly related to how we assess all of this. Whether you have a filling job, whether you have a job that makes you a lot of money, if you fulfil a role in society which is not necessarily, means you're either a man or woman because I think there's an awful lot of crossing over these days anyway, if human beings are caring role then how you assess what it is you spend your day doing if you assess it differently. If you see yourself somebody as your role at home in the family as someone who is supporting the structure of the family, in maintaining it and so on I think you find a different way to assess value what it is that you do. I think there're lot of... you can't just talk about women being housewives these days but I think generally speaking many more concerned about this question of having the fulfilling job and the job that's successful than women do... I'm convinced... that's more the case and ...that men are more likely to find ... excuses if they haven't achieved out yet but ultimately it's the goal. It's like if you won the lottery tomorrow would you would you continued to do some sort of work, would you stop. I would, I could clearly see my friends putting down the middle on this. (They would say that they'd stop...men would say "Oh, no. I give it all tomorrow"...) and have a good time and now I'm quite clear that winning the lottery for me would be an opportunity to... even to do with business but start also (ventures?) and activities and I want to be busy doing something. B: (That's would mean...) doing exactly what I'm doing now and just forgetting completely (to get money?) and I think if one could just separate to both completed the question of money from what you do professionally (...) C: I agree. I wouldn't be able to stop working. I need, I need to be doing something. I need to feel like I'm producing something I'm doing something at least... A: But is it to do with money? Is it to do with earning money? C: No, no. If I won the lottery, there would be great I mean, I would try investing in some places, pay bills (?) D: I think that these two gentlemen do what they're really love doing and, and in that sense they've got, they were really lucky they've got jobs they really like and that's why they would continue doing them even if

they were both extremely wealthy because then the money wouldn't matter. What a wonderful position to be in! But you (...) would be there if youre job is that interesting in that and that much fun... B: (...) Is that actually lucky or is that focus? (?) D: No, no... Lucky was an unfortunate word to use I think. How ever you got to that position, it's a happy position to be in. Love your work as much as you obviously do. A: I'm not convinced of you being awfully polite. I think men end up becoming more focused and involved in what they do because that is what they...that is a requirement to being, being... That's part of the role, that's what they do. I know people who have... if you turn the clock back and look at how they started doing that profession, maybe that's not their ideal profession, but 20-25 years down the line it's their whole life in the hallway looking at things and they've developed an entire way of life, a language and philosophy. That's brings out of them, they don't know how to define themselves in any other way and their hobbies take a back seat because they are hopeless and is very difficult to come across somebody who says, "Well, yeah, what I, what I spend most of my time doing is blah blah blah, how much do you find that pays? Well no, I don't do it for money." You might just be talking about cleaning the toilets. B: Don't you know any doctor, for example? (?) ( ...) it's something that doesn't only grow to love money (?) (...) A: That's take tricky one (?) He knows I'm you talking about the private sector. D: (...) to talk about everybody here? A: It's a course (?) we've got to talk about everybody. I think, I mean if we go back to the original premise being: hobbies vs. your professional life I would like to think there are hobbies matter more these days. Maybe it's something to do with age, I'm more comfortable in my skin and I'm more comfortable defining myself in terms of who aren't actually ended up being (?) rather than worrying about who I'm not. And twenty years ago, I would be much more worried about who I'm not yet.