The influences that home, family, and education have on Irish men's experiences of working life are explored based on interviews and questionnaire research carried out in North Dublin during 1997 and 1998. A two-stage research design was adopted. The first stage involved a short attitudinal-type questionnaire given to men at a sporting club. The questionnaire contained biographical and attitudinal questions on work, home, politics, class, and education. One hundred fifty-six questionnaires out of 250 were returned. The second stage was an in-depth interview with 10 men, which consisted of more formal questions about the respondent's present occupation and/or current educational participation. The findings suggest the following: (1) men retain notions that men should be the heads of households, that outside work is more important for men, and domestic work is more important for women; (2) the men's fathers had a significant influence on their attitudes toward work; (3) the majority of the men agreed that education was important for success, but nearly half felt that success is based on whom one knows and most felt that school and education did not prepare them for work. (Contains 45 references and four appendixes, including survey questions.) (SLR)