This article presents work as the possible site of a generational conflict over the definition of masculinity between parents and children, focusing on the father and son dynamic. It tackles cases of idle sons, or educated young men who cannot establish themselves in any one career, in the middle classes around the middle of the 19th century. It discusses the changing attitudes to what forms masculine work in these classes. It gives emphasis to the case of widowed mother Margaret Oliphant who expressed mixed signals about the significance of work
