Rethinking Unemployment and the Work Ethic

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Andrew Dunn

   Pages 1-15

3. The Academic Debate About Unemployment and Employment Commitment

   • Andrew Dunn

   Pages 16-54

4. Researching Employment Commitment

   • Andrew Dunn

   Pages 55-85

5. The Interviews with Employed and Unemployed People

   • Andrew Dunn

   Pages 86-113

6. Who Agrees that ‘Having Almost Any Job Is Better Than Being Unemployed’?

   • Andrew Dunn, Maria T. Grasso, Clare Saunders

   Pages 114-148

7. What Do People Who Help Long-term JSA Claimants into Employment Say About Their Clients’ Attitudes to Work and Job Search Behaviour?

   • Andrew Dunn

   Pages 149-174

8. Summary and Conclusion

   • Andrew Dunn

   Pages 175-198

9. Back Matter

   Pages 199-222

   PDF

While recent Labour and coalition governments have insisted that many unemployed people prefer state benefits to a job, and have tightened the rules attached to claiming unemployment benefits, mainstream academic research repeatedly concludes that only a tiny minority of unemployed benefit claimants are not strongly committed to employment. Andrew Dunn argues that the discrepancy can be explained by UK social policy academia leaving important questions unanswered. Dunn presents findings from four empirical studies which, in contrast to earlier research, focused on unemployed people's attitudes towards unattractive jobs and included interviews with people in welfare-to-work organisations. All four studies' findings were consistent with the view that many unemployed benefit claimants prefer living on benefits to undertaking jobs which would increase their income, but which they find unattractive. Thus, the studies gave support to politicians' view about the need to tighten benefit rules.

• employment
• interview
• unemployment

"Andrew Dunn has written the deepest inquiry I know of into unemployment in Britain. He makes clear that a life on benefits isn't just forced on people by conditions; it also reflects claimants' attitudes and choices, which vary widely. Many still view work as a choice that they need not make. Welfare reform was supposed to deny that choice, to stop paying aid without work. Clearly it has so far failed to deliver." - Larry Mead, New York University, USA

"Andrew Dunn has produced a powerful and compelling critique of the understanding of unemployment that underpins much academic writing on British social policy. It is a book which should be read widely and debated seriously." - Alan Deacon, University of Leeds, UK

• University of Lincoln, UK

  Andrew Dunn

Andrew Dunn is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has published articles in high-ranking academic journals, including Work, Employment and Society and Journal of Social Policy. He was awarded the 2010 Social Policy and Administration 'Best Article by an Early Stage Career Researcher' prize.

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