people report an improvement in their mental health because they have escaped
from miserable job and others because they have found positive aspects of
unemployment 10. A survey carried out by
Jackson and Warr (cited in 9) on 954
men who had been unemployed on average for five months, found that while the
largest percentage of people experienced pooer mental health, eight per cent
actually said that their mental health had improved since becoming unemployed.
A study by Colledge and Bartholomew in 1968 looking at long term unemployment
found just under 2/3 of men described their health as excellent or good and
only nine per cent stated their health was poor due to unemployment (cited in 9.)???? On the other hand, Brenner (1976 cited in 3) saw that when unemployment rates were
high so were social apathy indicators and stated that the negetive consequences
of unemployment were far worse than those of employment.? While work can be argued as alienating and
exploitative, a Dutch study by Hofstede (1979 cited in 3) concluded that the humanization of work
is only demanded by the intectual elite and not by alienated workers therfore
work is not necessarily as threatening to mental health as some may claim.?? Afterall, work fulfils the Latent Functions
defined by Jahoda 3 of
imposing a time structure, the sharing of experiences and contact with others
outside of the immediate family, employment enables people to link themselves
to individual goals and purposes that transend their own, it structures their
personal identity and status and finally, it enforces activity.? These Latent Functions echo strongly back to
the ideas I put forward earlier about the functions of work.? Even Freud (1930 cited in 9.) stated work was a person?s strongest
tie to reality and therefore it would seem, in general, that unemployment
affects mental health far more than employment ever has.???? Over the past century there has been a
numrous studies undertaken to try and discover the effects of unemployment but
there is no real theory to bind the research and knowledge regarding this area
together, and so there is often quite a gap between the theory and the
research.? While unemployment rates rise
in industrialised countries with the international division of labour leading
to fewer jobs in the western world, especially when to survive economically
organisations replace jobs with technology, it is important that we look at the
consequences that such increases in unemployment could have.? While work may have become more alienating
and exploitative, the consequences on mental health? for the unemployed is still as drastic as it ever was and far
worse then than being within employment.?
Unemployment today doesn?t necessarily lead to deep poverty like it did
in the depression of the 1930?s but the psychological consequences remain the
same if not worse by the pressure placed on people within a consumer society
with higher standards of living.? While
the working environment of the 1930?s was much different to that of the 1980?s
and? today, I hope, I have highlighted
the severe negetive consequences of unemployment on mental health through the
use of theory and knowledge to gain a greater understanding of the experience
of life without work. Endnotes1. Haye J & Nutman P ? Understanding the Unemployed ? The
Psychological Effects of Unemployment?? ?????? (1981) Tavistock. 2. Fryer D & Ullah P ? Unemployed People: Social and Psycholgical
Perspectives (1987) Open University ??????
Press. 3.? Jahoda M – Work, Employment,
and Unemployment (1981) American Psycholgist, 36, 2. 4. Tv Eye ? 5th June 1980 ? Thames Television cited in 1 5. Pilgrim Trust 1968 cited in 1. (p.23.) 6. Jahoda M ? Employment and Unemployment (1982) Camberidge University
Press7.? Warr P ? Comparison between
employed and unemployed: twelve questions about unemployment and health in
Roberts, R, Finnegan, R, Gaille, D eds. ? New approaches to economic life
(1985) Manchester University Press. 8. Balloch S, Hume C, Jones B, and Westland P ? Caring for unemployed
people (1985) Bedford Sqaure Press.9. Smith R ? Unemployment and Health (1987) Oxford University Press10. Fryer D & Payne R ? Proactive behaviour in unemployment;
findings and implications. Leisure studies???
1984; 3: 273-95 cited in 9. ? BibliographyBalloch S, Hume C, Jones B, and Westland P ? Caring for Unemployed
People (1985) ?????????????????????????
Bedford Sqaure Press.Dodd V ??Overworked Britons feel ill and too tired for love.?The
Guardian 5 March 2001 Haye J & Nutman P ? Understanding the Unemployed ? The
Psychological Effects of????? ?????????????????????????????? Unemployment (1981)
Tavistock.Fryer D & Ullah P ? Unemployed People: Social and Psycholgical
Perspectives (1987) ???????????????????? ?????Open University Press.Jahoda M – Work, Employment, and Unemployment (1981) American
Psycholgist, 36, 2.Jahoda M ? Employment and Unemployment (1982) Camberidge
University PressSmith R ? Unemployment and Health (1987) Oxford University PressWarr P ? Comparison between employed and unemployed: twelve questions
about ??????????????? unemployment and
health in Roberts, R, Finnegan, R, Gaille, D eds. ? ??????????????? New
Approaches to Economic Life (1985) Manchester University Press.