Work as purpose is a rather novel idea. Max Weber is really helpful here, and his seminal book, while published in 1905, seems more relevant than ever.
It used to be that you worked just as much as you needed to, to sustain yourself. So much so that raising wages would immediately result in people working less, as they could earn the same amount of money with less work.
Then at some point work became a "calling" and working as hard as possible viewed as respectable, desirable and commendable.
I still think this is insane. There are so many things to do, so many things to think/dream about. So many moments to just do nothing and stare at nature. I don't have time for work.
No. "Work as purpose" is an observation, maybe a new observation (not sure about that). It's not like that a scholar invented an idea, then the mass followed the idea and the idea changed everyone's life. No scholar has this kind of magic power.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is called a theory. In its nature, it's a framework of psychological conceptions based on observations. It's not like Maslow tells people what they need and the human beings on this planet start to pursue their needs based on Maslow's demand.
Yes. People want to work less, but people can't just wonder around without purpose for a long time. When you find your purpose, and start to spend your time on it, you are "working" on that purpose. Nobody says work = work for a boss.
It seems most people here mean "work" as in trading time/skill for money.
Everything in life is work, however. Building dams, building robots, creating music, raising kids, even playing games.
If you had enough finances to do anything (including nothing at all), I'm quite sure you'd quickly find yourself working anyway. I know I would.
I don't think it's some modern concept, it's just that life has no real purpose beyond survival and reproduction and we (as in our consciousness) need one otherwise the dread of existence will set in sooner or later.
You can make an analogy with the theory of the firm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_firm). More workers = more transaction costs. Twice as many people working half as many hours is more expensive; it's more efficient to employ people full time.
You'd expect this to crowd out many part-time jobs, jobs that aren't autonomous and low-context. That is, fast food cook, delivery driver, cleaning jobs etc. can be done part-time, but it's much harder to find shorter hours for white-collar work.
99PI had an anecdote about exactly that re: "Fordlândia," a rubber plantation in Brazil founded by Henry Ford. The local workers were a source of frustration because they would work one or two days, get paid, and then go home.
It used to be that you worked just as much as you needed to, to sustain yourself. So much so that raising wages would immediately result in people working less, as they could earn the same amount of money with less work.
Then at some point work became a "calling" and working as hard as possible viewed as respectable, desirable and commendable.
I still think this is insane. There are so many things to do, so many things to think/dream about. So many moments to just do nothing and stare at nature. I don't have time for work.