Autorul analizează cercetările consacrate viziunilor medievale asupra muncii, intreprinse de exponenţii Şcolii Analelor: L. Febvre, J. Le Goff, G. Duby, E. Le Roy Ladurie, R. Fossier. In conştiinţa Occidentului medieval, munca era frecvent asociată suferinţei, păcatului originar şi păturilor de jos ale societăţii. Treptat, a cunoscut o reabilitare, fiind considerată mijloc de mantuire a sufletului sau de obţinere a performanţelor, in primul rand, in agricultură. Atitudinile medievale faţă de muncă se deosebeau esenţial de realităţile societăţii moderne. Pentru studiul acestui subiect, istoricii Şcolii Analelor au pus in valoare vocabularul medieval, literatura şi artele vizuale, analizand transformările social-economice, politice şi culturale din perspectivă etnologică..  

The author analyses the researches dedicated to the medieval views on labour, that were undertaken by representatives of the Annales School: L. Febvre, J. Le Goff, G. Duby, E. Le Roy Ladurie, R. Fossier. In the consciousness of the medieval West, labour was frequently associated with suffering, the original sin and the low social layers. However, it gradually underwent rehabilitation, being considered a means of spiritual redemption or of obtaining achievements, first of all, in agriculture. The medieval attitudes towards labour differ essentially from the realities of the modern society. For the study of this subject, the historians of the Annales School made use of the medieval vocabulary, literature and visual arts, as well as they analysed the social-economic, political and cultural changes from an ethnological perspective