On the way home from visiting some friends at a cottage on the weekend, I had the opportunity to listen to Richard Senett (here’s another interesting profile of him) discussing work, life and sociology in general on the CBC’s Ideas radio program.

One of the recurring themes in the discussion was the fractured nature of work life. Sennett argues that because employees once worked for a single employer for most of their lives, this acted as a driver for sensemaking for that employee.

They were, according to Sennett, able to weave a unified narrative out of their work experiences. Not so with the modern knowledge worker, he says. Workers in the ‘new economy’ must face an increasingly disconnected set of tasks that are difficult to unite into a logical pattern.

This disparate, task-focused approach to work leaves the knowledge worker feeling disconnected and lost. Unable to make sense of the world of work, workers merely float from job to job, bowing to the pressure of human resources departments who see anyone who has maintained long term service with one employer as being ‘ingrown’.

I have yet to read any of Sennett’s books, but he makes an interesting case for the tale of the wayward, forfeited postmodern knowledge worker.

Thinkers and writers like Sennett seem to be most interesting because they are able to cross the borders of business, sociology and psychology — and present us with a cohesive vision of where they see the world of work going.

Is Sennett’s vision too bleak however? Are we increasingly lost and isolated in the postmodern workplace? I’d be interested to hear others thoughts on this — leave a comment and let me know what you think.