WORK VALUES - A COMPARISON OF NONDISABLED PERSONS WITH PERSONS WITH PARAPLEGIA

A number of studies focus on factors that might explain the low level of employment of persons with paraplegia without questioning the socia l representations connected to work. Being employed is considered a pr iori as beneficial, constituting an important objective for rehabilita tion. However sociologists have recently pointed out that work, as a m eans of self fulfilment, is a 'constructed' rather than a 'natural' ca tegory. The comparisons of the representations of work given by two gr oups: persons with paraplegia (n = 350), and non-disabled persons (n = 327) show that persons with paraplegia are more likely than non-disab led persons to consider work as a source of personal fulfilment and so cial recognition and less likely to positively value the fact of not-w orking. In addition, a demonstrated satisfaction with not working, amo ng persons of working age, is clearly more significant among non-disab led persons than among persons with paraplegia. Among these, some of t hem who have generally made up their mind about not working declare th at they feel satisfied being unoccupied. This satisfaction is explaine d, in part, by expressed representations of work. The authors suggest a reflection on the place of work in rehabilitation programmes.