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Poverty stricken? A plea for a greater emphasis on the role of poverty in psychological research on unemployment and mental health in the social context

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On the Mysteries of Unemployment

Part of the book series: Studies in Operational Regional Science ((SORS,volume 10))

Abstract

Is our understanding of the experience of unemployment rich or poverty stricken? The literature on the psychological consequences of unemployment is certainly rich and detailed in some respects. Indeed, a massive research effort over the last sixty years paints a rich, detailed and in some regards increasingly persuasive picture of the personal and social consequences of unemployment. In other respects, however, our understanding of this area has become increasingly impoverished over this period, whilst the actual impoverishment of unemployed people has been decreasingly emphasised. To explore these issues, I begin with a brief review of the main findings reported in the literature.

This paper draws heavily on: ‘The mental health costs of unemployment: Towards a social psychological concept of poverty’, by David Fryer (Invited paper to The British Journal of Clinical and Social Psychiatry, 1990, Vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 164–175). The interested reader is directed to this paper for further elaboration of the points made.

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Authors
  1. D. M. Fryer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fryske Akademy, Doelestrjitte 8, 8911 DX, Ljouwert, The Netherlands

    Lammert-Gosse Jansma (Scientific Director) (Scientific Director)

  2. Department of Social Sciences, University of Utrecht, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Martijn P. M. de Goede

  3. Department of Household & Consumer Studies, Agricultural University of Wageningen, P.O. Box 8060, 6700 DA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Johan A. C. van Ophem

  4. RBA-Friesland — Regional Board Labour Exchange-Friesland, P.O. Box 2202, 8901 JE, Ljouwert, The Netherlands

    Arend de Vries

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Fryer, D.M. (1992). Poverty stricken? A plea for a greater emphasis on the role of poverty in psychological research on unemployment and mental health in the social context. In: Verhaar, C.H.A., Jansma, LG., de Goede, M.P.M., van Ophem, J.A.C., de Vries, A. (eds) On the Mysteries of Unemployment. Studies in Operational Regional Science, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8080-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8080-9_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4206-4

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