In modern industrial societies labour as gainful employment has thoroughly replaced traditional connotations of work, which used to be linked with ideas of a Vita activa in the sense of Hannah Arendt (1977). While during the Middle Ages the term ‘labour’ was used to characterise any mode of activity, with the onset of industrialisation and societal modernisation its connotation was reduced to the meaning of gainful employment. Today, labour in the sense of employment has developed into a pivotal element of our social fabric, thus providing the bedrock for recognition and prestige while at the same time constituting a central tool for societal integration (Kocka 2001; Kocka/Offe 2000; Frambach 1999; König et al. 1990).