In earlier industrial societies work in industry was closely linked to a morality of duty which was both individual and social. But the status of work today and the moral system which gave it its status have undergone considerable change. The Book of Genesis can be seen as the first gospel of labour, but what is our view of the meaning of work today? In The Three Sisters Chekhov has shown with both tender irony and deep seriousness that the meaning of work cannot be separated from the meaning of life, and attempting to arrive at a new view of work therefore always involves attempting to arrive at a new view of man.