This paper is an essay to synthesise the historical evolution of work, since late Ancien Régime til now. Firstly, we talk about the conditions of socialization that are dominant in European countries until the beginning of XIXth century, and then were hardly pushed and changed by industry and the democratization of the state. Secondly, we analyse the important role of juridical norms that, alongside the XXth century, regulates the enlargement of the wage pay system to all those peoples, and extended it more and more to other far regions. Finally, after the fall of East socialist block, we try to think about the individualistic values that structures the consumers behaviour of large masses, all over the world