Handbook on unemployment and society / edited by Victor Tan Chen, (Department of Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA), Sabina Pultz, (Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Denmark), and Ofer Sharone, (Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA).

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Chen, Victor Tan, editor.

Pultz, Sabrina, editor.

Sharone, Ofer, editor.

Edward Elgar Publishing, publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Unemployment--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Unemployment.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (456 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cheltenham, UK : Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, [2026]

Summary:

"The Handbook on Unemployment and Society explores how labor market institutions, policy regimes, and societal norms shape the experiences of unemployed people across various cultural contexts. It highlights how unemployment experiences are not usually driven by individual factors, but rather by broader structural forces. Contributing authors demonstrate how the disconnection from secure and dignified employment can severely undermine well-being, challenge a person's sense of purpose, and put strain on families and close relationships. Chapters examine the lived experience of job insecurity on an international scale, uncovering patterns and key institutional dynamics and investigating factors such as gender and race that continue to situate individuals in more or less advantaged positions when they confront the loss of their livelihoods. The Handbook provides suggestions for policies that could improve life for unemployed people, as well as outlining ways in which individuals and wider societies might approach this issue with greater understanding and compassion. This interdisciplinary Handbook is a valuable resource for scholars and students in the fields of sociology, public policy, psychology, and economics. It is also greatly beneficial to those interested in understanding the social impacts of unemployment, such as policymakers and practitioners at support organizations"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contents: 1. The experience of unemployment, in context / Victor Tan Chen, Sabina Pultz, and Ofer Sharone

Part I: The personal impacts of unemployment

2. Job loss, job insecurity, and health / Sarah A. Burgard and Janet Wang

3. The psychological impact of unemployment: New perspectives and intervention strategies / David L. Blustein, Camille Smith, Michael Gordon, Alekzander Davila, and Whitney J. Erby

Part II: Unemployment as an institution

4. The governmentality of unemployment: Transitional states of welfare / Tom Boland and Ray Griffin

5. The puzzling reconciliation of conditionality and personalized services in employment services: How managers, frontline workers, and claimants strive to solve a gordian knot / Dorte Caswell, Flemming Larsen, and Mathias Herup Nielsen

6. What am I worth? An exploration of unemployed people's experiences of (in)dignity in Denmark / Sabina Pultz and Magnus Paulsen Hansen

7. The unemployment institution / Sarah Damaske

Part III: Subjectivities and work insecurity

8. Flexible workers and other fantastical myths of the neoliberal era / Annette Nierobisz

9. Seeking shelter from the storm: Perceived work insecurity in the United States / Travis Scott Lowe

10. The present, past, and future of insecurity culture / Allison J. Pugh

Part IV: Unemployment stigma and its consequences

11. Unemployment counseling: An identity-based perspective / Dawn R. Norris

12. Welfare stigma and the weaponization of shame / Michelle Peterie and Alex Broom

13. How gender shapes job loss and job searching / Aliya Hamid Rao

Part V: Psychologizing unemployment and promoting self-blame

14. The perversity of the unemployment narrative / Brian Halpin

15. Governing unemployment in China through the psychologization of the heart / Jie Yang

16. A missed opportunity? A critical appraisal of Australia's approach to governing unemployment during the COVID-19 Pandemic / Greg Marston and Rose-Marie Stambe

Part VI: The many faces of the precarious economy

17. Joblessness, economic dislocation, and civic withdrawal / Dingeman Wiertz and Chaeyoon Lim

18. Participation churn and bad(ish) jobs: Challenges facing working-class men in the rural us labor market / Robert D. Francis

19. The inherent link between privileged and precarious work in an uncertain future / Nancy DiTomaso

20. From no jobs to bad jobs: Research on employment precarity in Poland / Anna Kiersztyn

21. The making and enabling of a temporary workforce for the twenty-first century / Jacqueline Olvera

22. Beyond 'good' and 'bad' jobs: A field theory of power at work / Victor Tan Chen and Erin Hatton

Part VII: Job searching and hiring practices

23. Job expectations theorized as feasible work / Didier Demazière

24. Navigating a highly competitive labor market: Understanding job search experiences of white-collar workers in South Korea / Gokce Basbug

25. What hiring rituals reveal about political economy / Ilana Gershon

Part VIII: Imagining other worlds of work

26. Fugitive optimism: Late liberalism's traumatic temporality / Kathryn M. Dudley.

Notes:

Inlcudes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print record.

ISBN:

9781800886834 (e-book)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.