The Psychological Dangers of Unemployment Essay Example for Free

The Psychological Dangers of Unemployment Essay Work is inexplicably bound to human existence. Since the dawn of time, human beings had to live by the sweat of their brows in order to ensure their survival. The advent of technology did not change this reality – the former only diversified work, as well as made it faster and more convenient. So closely linked is work to human existence that entire schools of thought were actually built around this association. The Prussian philosopher and political economist Karl Marx (1818-1883), for instance, argued that an individual’s identity was based on what he or she did for a living (Sayers 39). A person’s occupation supposedly reflected his or her faculties. The loss of work would therefore have an adverse effect on all aspects of a person’s life. In his article The Consequences – Undoing Sanity (2006) Louis Uchitelle argued that unemployment translates to more than just the loss of an occupation. When an individual becomes unemployed, he or she loses not just economic security but also his or her self-esteem (Uchitelle 299). This observation is very much true in the United States, a country whose culture strongly emphasized independence and individual achievement. Since its institution, the US has created an image of itself as an egalitarian society. Every American, regardless of race, creed or social status, had to work for their own survival. Consequently, when meeting someone for the first time, the question â€Å"What do you do? † is not far from the American’s lips. In American culture, a person’s job provides other people an idea about his or her personal background – educational attainment, upbringing, tastes, gender preference, etc. (Seguin 14) Furthermore, American culture associates work with personal accomplishment (Seguin 14). The egalitarian nature of American culture brought about the latter’s philosophy that diligence and industry are the tickets to better times. It is therefore not unusual for the average American to hold two or three jobs at the same time. Most Americans were first exposed to work through part-time jobs during their teenage years. Globalization, however, shattered the aforementioned ideals. Eager to cut down on operational expenses, many US enterprises resorted to downsizing. Minor operations, such as telemarketing and customer assistance, were transferred to Third World countries. For these companies, downsizing made good business sense – the Third World was a source of cheap but highly-skilled labor. But the American workers did not share the same belief. For them, downsizing meant the closure of firms and massive layoffs. Employees who faithfully served a company for many years suddenly found themselves out of work. Worse, they were unable to find a new job. Simply put, downsizing spelled poverty – decreased household expenditures, searching for a cheaper place to live, selling of properties that took many years to obtain just to make ends meet. Numerous studies have already been conducted on the damaging effects of joblessness, particularly on unemployment brought about by layoffs – decrease in family cohesion, a rise in the divorce rate, the unwinding of communities and guilty feelings among employees who dodged a layoff. But Uchitelle pointed out that the layoff in itself is already a very damaging blow (Uchitelle 301). Most employees who have been laid off often attribute their misfortune to their â€Å"mediocre† performance as workers (Uchitelle 301) – they were fired probably because they always reported late for work, they called in sick even if they really were not, their employers were not satisfied at their outputs, etc. Others, meanwhile, convince themselves that it is the company who has the problem and not them (Uchitelle 301). They may rationalize that the company is having financial trouble, hence the need to reduce the number of hands that it had to pay. Or maybe layoffs were simply commonplace, given the dismal state of the economy. Despite these elaborate justifications, the feelings of diminishment would still surface (Uchitelle 301). How come they were fired, while their co-workers were not? This sense of diminishment, in turn, has very destructive psychological effects. Despite encouragement from friends and family members, those who have been laid off may no longer feel any enthusiasm about pursuing a new job. This lack of interest has two sources – low self-esteem and the fear of failure (Uchitelle 302). A person who lost his or her job because of a layoff may feel that he or she is too incompetent for any kind of work. Such self-pity, consecutively, generates the fear that they will end up getting fired from the next job that they will avail themselves of. Layoffs can be more psychologically damaging for men, who are still traditionally expected to become the breadwinners of their respective families. One of Uchitelle’s respondents, Stacey Brown, was very much distressed over the negative personality changes in her husband, Erin, after he was laid off from his job as a mechanic in United Airlines. Prior to the layoff, Erin was a hardworking, ambitious man who was devoted to his job and had many future plans for his family (Uchitelle 299). But according to Stacey, he was unable to pick up his life after he became unemployed. She believed that â€Å"the layoff destroyed (her husband’s) self-esteem† (Uchitelle 299). Since Erin lost his job, he no longer had the self-confidence to look for a new job or pursue any other endeavor. His wife had to prod him into applying for a job as a technical specialist in a Rolls-Royce engine plant in Indianapolis. Erin, however, did not get hired. Stacey sensed that this incident made him averse to work of any kind (Uchitelle 303). For one, he described the plant’s human resources manager in a resentful and insulting manner. According to Erin, â€Å"I was well-qualified and I went through a lot of effort to get (the job)†¦and it turns out the guy who was doing the hiring had not bothered to understand the nature of the job he was in charge of filling† (Uchitelle 303). In addition, he was no longer interested in fulfilling his former plans of opening his own business. In order to lift his spirits after getting laid off, Stacey insisted on purchasing a rundown three-bedroom house located near their residence (Uchitelle 300). She hoped that in buying the house, she would be able to help him fulfill his dream of renovating and reselling rundown houses (Uchitelle 300). It proved to be a false hope. Although Erin started construction work on the house, he completed only the exterior part. Despite his excuses such as having to take care of their son, Kyle, Stacey knew the real reason behind his inability to finish reconstructing the house – he was afraid of another failure. According to Stacey, â€Å"(He) did not want to take the risk of actually finishing the (house) and then somehow (losing it like his former occupation)† (Uchitelle 304). No amount of support and understanding from Stacey helped Erin. Although he had just completed a two-evening-a-week course in air condition repair, he did so for the wrong reasons. â€Å"I know that I will be overqualified for the next position that I take,† Erin said (Uchitelle 305). Simply put, the layoff made him feel that he was too incompetent for any gainful employment. Thus, he contented himself with low-paying, dead-end jobs, such as air condition repair. Aversion towards work is another common response among those who experienced a layoff. Getting fired despite dedication to a particular job and or company may make them disillusioned with the point of working for a living (Barling, Kelloway and Frone 291). For them, working no longer makes any sense – they would probably get fired anyway. Losing a job is indeed very tragic, as the absence of livelihood would definitely spell poverty for a person or a family. But the tragedy associated with a layoff is even worse. An employee who gets laid off from work ends up losing not only his or her economic security, but also his or her self-esteem. He or she would most likely think that his or her incompetence led to the loss of his or her job. But wallowing in self-pity will not get anyone anywhere. After a period of mourning over loss, an individual will have no other choice but to move on with his or her life. Time, after all, never waited for anyone.Furthermore, a person who is down has no other way to go to but up. Works Cited Barling, Julian, E. Kevin Kelloway, and Michael Robert Frone. Handbook of Work Stress. London: SAGE, 2004. Sayers, Sean. Marxism and Human Nature. New York: Routledge, 1998. Seguin, Robert. Around Quitting Time: Work and Middle-Class Fantasy in American Fiction. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. Uchitelle, Louis. The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences. New York: Knopf, 2006.