Socioeconomic Privilege and Meaningful Work: A Psychology of Working Perspective

Surveying a diverse sample of working adults, the current study examined the role of socioeconomic privilege in workers’ desire for and experience of meaningful work. First, we tested for differences across social status groups in desire for and experience of meaningful work, finding that, although desire for meaningful work was consistent across groups, experience of meaningful work was more likely to be endorsed by those who identified with higher social status. Building off this finding, we examined the moderating role of basic need satisfaction in the link between desire for and experience of meaningful work, finding survival and self-determination need satisfaction to be significant moderators. Results suggested that meaningful work is desired consistently across social status groups and that socioeconomic privilege may play a significant role in one’s experience of meaningful work via satisfaction of basic needs.