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What Does it Mean to be Passionate about Your Job? Three Meanings of ‘Collectively Oriented Passion’ in UK Pubs

Author

Listed:
  • Charles Umney

    (University of Leeds, UK)

  • Nicky Shaw

    (University of Leeds, UK)

  • Simon Williams

    (University of Leeds, UK)

Abstract

This article examines how understandings of passion shape people’s agency at work, through interviews with UK publicans. It addresses calls to rethink how ‘passion’ is conceptualised in the sociology of work. While discourses around passion are often thought to legitimise individualised working practices, the article explores more collective interpretations. It analyses how publicans exercised agency in negotiating externally imposed problems including the pandemic and exploitative relationships with leading industry actors. It identifies a collective understanding of passion centralising notions of community, which shaped participants’ agency in responding to these problems in three ways: providing motivation to persist in the industry; a frame for critiquing perceived injustice and (occasionally) mobilising against it; and a resource for reinvention in pursuing business sustainability. The main contribution is thus new concepts for analysing how ‘collectively oriented passion’ shapes individuals’ agency at work.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Umney & Nicky Shaw & Simon Williams, 2026. "What Does it Mean to be Passionate about Your Job? Three Meanings of ‘Collectively Oriented Passion’ in UK Pubs," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 40(1), pages 153-174, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:40:y:2026:i:1:p:153-174
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170251371989
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles Umney, 2017. "Moral economy, intermediaries and intensified competition in the labour market for function musicians," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(5), pages 834-850, October.
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    5. Davide Però & John Downey, 2024. "Advancing Workers’ Rights in the Gig Economy through Discursive Power: The Communicative Strategies of Indie Unions," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(1), pages 140-160, February.
    6. Liam Keenan, 2020. "Financialization, securitization and the decline of pubs in Britain [The financialization of home and the mortgage market crisis]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(6), pages 1293-1311.
    7. Raffaella Valsecchi & Neil Anderson & Maria Elisavet Balta & John Harrison, 2023. "Managing Health and Well-Being in SMEs through an Adviceline: A Typology of Managerial Behaviours," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(2), pages 449-466, April.
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    9. Charles Umney & Genevieve Coderre-LaPalme, 2017. "Blocked and New Frontiers for Trade Unions: Contesting ‘the Meaning of Work’ in the Creative and Caring Sectors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 859-878, December.
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