The study examines the cultural key concept of work during the Weimar Republic in three chapters: 1.) in the educational discourse (especially Kerschensteiner's concept of work schools), 2.) regarding its application in the American discourse, and 3.) its questioning due to structural unemployment during the Great Depression. The subjects of analysis include not only literary and pragmatic texts but also the films "Kameradschaft" and "Kuhle Wampe," Kasack's radio play "Der Ruf," several photo books, and contemporary social and cultural historical studies. Methodologically, the investigation combines a socially informed literary analysis with social psychological, imagological, media historical, and discourse analytical approaches under a cultural studies perspective. A central interpretive category in this context is the concept of habitus.