Constructing Unemployment

B ritain and F rance in Historical Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID11196702
AuthorsNoel Whiteside (0000-0003-3088-3433, Department of Sociology University of Warwick Coventry UK, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume48
Issue1
Pages67-85
Publication date2014-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Policy and Administration (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0144-5596 • E-ISSN: 1467-9515
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/spol.12032
OpenAlexW2112290522
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited16

Unemployment emerged as a specific social issue in the late‐19th century, but the nature of the threat it posed and the governing instruments available to address it varied widely. Using B ritain and F rance as strongly contrasting cases, this article demonstrates the variable and historically contingent constructions of unemployment as a problem, and demonstrates how policy to address it was developed using administrative agencies that embodied specific, normative visions of how society and employment should operate. The different governing trajectories through which the issue was tackled is analyzed in terms of the context within which the problem of unemployment originally emerged. The article demonstrates the socio‐political nature of unemployment's construction and, with reference to recent labour market change, questions its utility as a means of assessing economic or social well‐being

Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Normative · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Unemployment · Vision · Employment and Welfare Studies · History · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub