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Stress and Suffering at Work pp 37–57Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Epidemiological Transition and the Emergence of Mental Discomfort: The Case of Work Stress

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Abstract

The chapter explores the role of long-term societal and cultural changes in the emergence of socio-emotional problems such as work stress. Building on Finnish historical datasets, it shows how psychosocial well-being and discomfort became an acute issue in different occupational sectors and in public awareness between the 1930s and 2010s. The chapter also reveals how the emergence of psychosocial discomfort has been linked to different social, cultural and economic mechanisms depending on the occupational sector. Overall, the analysis indicates that the epidemiological transformation in occupational health problems has been significantly influenced by the societal and organizational shifts towards service and knowledge economies as well as by cultural transitions among working populations. The emergence of work stress exemplifies this process.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland

    Ari Väänänen & Pekka Varje

Authors
  1. Ari Väänänen
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  2. Pekka Varje
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Correspondence to Ari Väänänen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IDHES, CNRS, Paris I, Bourg-la-Reine, France

    Marc Loriol

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Väänänen, A., Varje, P. (2019). Epidemiological Transition and the Emergence of Mental Discomfort: The Case of Work Stress. In: Loriol, M. (eds) Stress and Suffering at Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05876-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05876-0_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05875-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05876-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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