The Unemployed, a classic study of the effect of unemployment and of the ways of relieving it upon actual, typical families of the 1930s and 1940s, is a vivid, startling picture of the demoralizing influence and consequences of America�s relief policies during the Depression years. The study comprises an incisive interpretation of the problem and a series of absorbing human interest stories of representative families on relief�cases selected from experiences of relief, including the records of families from various religious groups in an exhaustive study conducted in New York City.
By showing that the basic assumptions if mainstream macroeconomics were and are flawed, the author aims to convince the reader that full employment and price stability are fully compatible goals in the modern world.
Anthropologies of Unemployment offers accessible, theoretically innovative, and ethnographically rich examinations of unemployment in rural and urban regions across North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The diversity of case studies demonstrates that unemployment is a pressing global phenomenon that sheds light on the uneven consequences of free-market ideologies and policies. Economic, social, and cultural marginalization is common in the lives of the unemployed, but their experience and interpretation are shaped by local and national cultural particularities. In exploring those differences, the contributors to this volume employ recent theoretical innovations and engage with some of the more salient topics in contemporary anthropology, such as globalization, migration, youth cultures, bureaucracy, class, gender, and race. Taken together, the chapters reveal that there is something new about unemployment today. It is not a temporary occurrence, but a chronic condition. In adjusting to persistent, longstanding unemployment, people and groups create new understandings of unemployment as well as of work and employment; they improvise new forms of sociality, morality, and personhood. Ethnographic studies such as those found in Anthropologies of Unemployment are crucial if we are to understand the broader forms, meanings, and significance of pervasive economic insecurity and discover the emergence of new social and cultural possibilities.
One of the Believer’s Best Books of the Year: One woman’s journey through that awkward period between being born and dying. A modern odyssey about trying to find one’s home in the world, this collection of wickedly funny and offbeat vignettes touches upon quantum physics; the Donner Party; arctic exploration; Greek mythology; Rocky I, II, V, IV, VI, and III respectively; and literary immortality. Dating Tips for the Unemployed “melds novel, autobiography, and all manner of asides as [the author] flails at art, love, and friendship with the wry intelligence of someone just wise enough to realize they have no idea what they’re doing. A flat-out joy to read” (O, The Oprah Magazine). “In engaging episodes, Iris-the-character neurotically navigates dating in New York City, smokes pot on Greek islands with hapless lovers, drinks too much, deals with disapproving family, and eats a lot of cannoli. Smyles’s surreal, lyrical voice elevates these everyday scenarios into the realm of the fantastic and absurd. Included in the book are hilariously stylized advertisements full of false promises, such as ‘Health Secrets of the Roman Empire’ and ‘Have Your Portrait Painted By An Elephant!’ all for a price. Smyles is sharp, melancholy, and wickedly funny. She is unafraid to reveal and revel in her character’s flaws because it is what makes them so achingly, relatably human.” —Interview “Something like a cocktail of Dorothy Parker, James Joyce, and Philip Roth iced, sweetened, and blended.” —The Nervous Breakdown “Whimsy, satire, and rollicking social commentary . . . Ms. Smyles is a misanthrope-of-the-people, a standout on the order of Fran Lebowitz.” —The East Hampton Star
A practical plan for the millions of people in their fifties and sixties who find themselves out of work, unable to find a job, and financially incapable of retiring, Elizabeth White shows how to get past any blame or shame, overcome denial, and find a path to a new normal. Elizabeth White has an impressive resume, which includes advanced degrees from Harvard and Johns Hopkins and a distinguished employment history. She started a business that failed and then tried to reenter the work force in her mid-fifties, only to learn that there is little demand for workers her age. For a while Elizabeth lived in denial, but then had to adjust to her new reality, shedding the gym membership, getting a roommate, forgoing restaurant meals, and so on. She soon learned she wasn’t alone: there are millions of Americans in her predicament and worse, exhausted from trying to survive and overcome every day. In 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal, Elizabeth invites you to look beyond your immediate circumstances to what is possible in the new normal of financial insecurity. You’re in your fifties and sixties, and may have saved nothing or not nearly enough to retire. It’s too late for blame or shame—and it wouldn’t help anyway. What you want to know is what you can do now to have a shot at a decent retirement. “This relevant and well-researched book will appeal not only to those 55 plus, but to the generation coming right behind them who may face similar issues” (Booklist, starred review). 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal is a must-have for anyone whose income has suddenly diminished or even disappeared. “Providing practical solutions with a focus on retirement and maximizing savings, White maintains authority with a realistic, empathetic tone throughout. This deeply useful work will resonate with aging readers of all income levels and situations” (Publishers Weekly). If you’re ready to get serious about feeling good again, this book is for you.
In Crunch Time, Aliya Hamid Rao gets up close and personal with college-educated, unemployed men, women, and spouses to explain how comparable men and women have starkly different experiences of unemployment. Traditionally gendered understandings of work—that it’s a requirement for men and optional for women—loom large in this process, even for marriages that had been not organized in gender-traditional ways. These beliefs serve to make men’s unemployment an urgent problem, while women’s unemployment—cocooned within a narrative of staying at home—is almost a non-issue. Crunch Time reveals the minutiae of how gendered norms and behaviors are actively maintained by spouses at a time when they could be dismantled, and how gender is central to the ways couples react to and make sense of unemployment.
This book discusses unemployment and its relations to economic, political and social aspects. The first chapter studies the relationship of unemployment to the level of confidence that characterizes some macroeconomic relevant agents, such as consumers or investors. Chapter Two investigates the effects of productivity growth shocks on unemployment, both in the short run and in the medium - long run. Chapter Three reviews finite sample inference for unemployment-inflation tradeoff. Chapter Four focuses on understanding how the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and/or long-term labor market changes may have separately or jointly affected health among employed workers in 2010. Chapter Five evaluates the persistence of the unemployment rate in the following emerging European countries: Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Chapter Six discusses the case of election results on the political aspects of unemployment. Chapter Seven studies the relationship between unemployment and the (individual) perceived levels of well-being, such as life satisfaction or happiness. Chapter Eight assesses the association between homelessness and survival in a population of unemployed individuals in one region of northern Poland. Chapter Nine studies the impact that educational level and vocational training programmes had on the labour market of semi-peripheral EU countries, using Greece as a case study. Chapter Ten estimates the effects of area unemployment rate on smoking and drinking in China.
