People are just as likely to want to work after the financial crisis in 2008 as they were before it, research shows, with West Europeans maintaining a lower work ethic than Eastern Europeans.
An analysis of survey data on 77,567 people in 19 European countries, including the UK, found little change in attitudes to work between 1999 and 2017.
Raphaël Piters, of Sorbonne University, France, analysed answers to a series of questions about work asked for the European Values Study survey in 1999, 2008 and 2017.
The questions that interviewees were asked were: “To fully develop a talent, you need to have a job”; “It is humiliating to receive money without having to work”; “People who do not work become lazy”; “Work is a duty toward society”; and “Work should always come first, even if it means less spare time”.
Mr Piters averaged the answers into a score for ‘work ethic’ between 0 and 100, with Western Europeans and Scandinavians scoring lower, with around 45 in the Netherlands and Iceland, to around 75 in Bulgaria and Romania. The UK’s score was 55.
He told the annual conference of the British Sociological Association in Manchester today [Thursday, 9 April] that the results "do not reveal a generalized erosion of work ethic over the period examined. This stability is surprising.
“Most social and political attitudes do change substantially over the same period, for example environmental concern, attitudes toward immigration or support for the far right. In that sense, work ethic appears quite exceptional.
“The lowest scores are generally found in Scandinavian countries, whereas the highest scores are observed in Eastern Europe, while Western Europe countries tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the distribution.”
The 19 countries were: Iceland, Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Finland, France, Croatia, Spain, Estonia, Belarus, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Slovenia, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
Mr Piters carried out the research for his PhD.
For more information, please contact:
Tony Trueman
British Sociological Association
Tel: 0044 (0)7964 023392
tony.trueman@britsoc.org.uk
Notes
- The British Sociological Association’s Annual Conference takes place from 8 to 10 April 2026 at the University of Manchester, with more than 700 papers presented. The British Sociological Association’s charitable aim is to promote sociology. The BSA is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 3890729. Registered Charity Number 1080235 www.britsoc.co.uk
- Sorbonne University is a multidisciplinary research-intensive university covering the humanities, health, science and engineering. Anchored in the heart of Paris and with a regional presence, Sorbonne University has 53,000 students, 7,100 teaching and research staff and over 150 laboratories. Alongside its partners in the Sorbonne University Alliance, and via its institutes and multidisciplinary initiatives, it conducts research and educational activities to strengthen its contribution to the challenges of three major transitions: a global approach to health (One Health), resources for a sustainable planet (One Earth), and changing societies, languages and cultures (One Humanity). Sorbonne University is invested in innovation and Deep Tech through the Sorbonne University Cité de l’Innovation, with over 15,000 m2 dedicated to innovation, incubation and the relationship between research and entrepreneurship, but also through the Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI), a home for AI in the heart of Paris to organise and promote multidisciplinary AI research. Sorbonne University is also a member of the 4EU+ Alliance, an innovative model for European universities that develops strategic international partnerships and promotes the openness of its community to the rest of the world. https://www.sorbonne-universite.fr/en