From 11 to 13 December 2019 a conference entitled “Work, Ethics and Freedom” took place at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Using case studies, social anthropologists, sociologists, and legal scholars explored what is understood as “work” today and what rational, emotional, moral, and even spiritual dimensions work can have in various contexts. This was the first conference of the Max-Cam Centre (Max Planck – Cambridge Centre for Ethics, Economy and Social Change).