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Stress and Suffering at Work pp 105–128Cite as

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The Different Dimensions of the Social Construction Process

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Abstract

In any given country, various professional groups in different places and at different times resort to various uses of stress discourses and stress theories expressing their suffering at work and labeling their problems. Individual and collective strategies for managing and coping with difficulties at work also vary. The experience and the effect of potentially stressful events cannot be grasped unless one understands the social construction process of occupational stress and suffering and what workers can do to tackle these issues in the workplace (i.e., changing the stressful condition or constructing differently the meaning of difficulties and stress). This process involves a circular relation between the invention and dissemination of a new category or label (stress, burnout, etc.), the definition and the negotiation of the situation, the labeling or categorization of a person or an event and the moral career of persons or events before and after they are categorized.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interest in stress can also wane sometimes after a period of growth (e.g., see Wainwright 2011).

  2. 2.

    See Guillaume Lecoeur and Ari Väänänen’s chapters in this book.

  3. 3.

    According to the Oxford Sociology Dictionary, this concept corresponds to the processes involved in raising awareness on issues and enshrining them in law. Moral entrepreneurs are active promoters of morality, viz law-makers, law enforcers and campaigners.

  4. 4.

    These topics are developed by Ari Väänänen in his chapter.

  5. 5.

    For other examples, see Penny Dick’s chapter.

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  1. Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de L’Économie et de la Société (IDHES), Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France

    Marc Loriol

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

    Marc Loriol

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Loriol, M. (2019). The Different Dimensions of the Social Construction Process. In: Loriol, M. (eds) Stress and Suffering at Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05876-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05876-0_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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