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Injustice, Uselessness, and Illness

A Qualitative Study of Unemployed Graduates’ Lives in Iran

Bibliographic Data

ID9729211
AuthorsNashmin Khezri (Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran), Mehdi Rezaei (0000-0002-0468-5065, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran, corresponding author), Mozafarl Aram (Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran)
Year2020
Volume52
Issue1
Pages70-91
Publication date2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducation and Urban Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-1245 • E-ISSN: 1552-3535
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0013124519856678
OpenAlexW2954936215
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

Formal education in Iran, especially higher education, has been a means to smoothen the road to social mobility, provide good jobs, and boost people’s earnings. Now, being a university graduate and remaining unemployed is regarded as a challenge. In addition, governments consider this new unemployment a threat to their legitimacy. It seems that young unemployed graduates experience different problems in their social lives. This study aims to investigate the problems encountered by young unemployed graduates and to identify which aspects of situation provide a threatening condition for the society and government. This study has adopted a qualitative approach to answer these questions. It has been conducted in a Kurdish-Iranian context. The authors used a sample of 22 unemployed graduates and conducted semi-structured interviews with each of the sample members. The data gathered from the interviews were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method. There emerged several themes that described the unemployed graduates’ lives. Findings show that the definition of job is gender based. Unemployment is interpreted as “illness,” “uselessness,” and “social injustice.” To cope with the unemployment issue, the unemployed graduates have to follow different strategies, including “seclusion,” “continuing education,” or “restarting education.” They experience in such a context different psychological, interactive, and behavioral challenges that sometimes make them adopt an anti-social position. The findings of this research contribute to a clearer understanding of the pathological aspects of unemployed graduates’ lives, which is considered a threat from their own viewpoints

Context (archaeology · Earnings · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Injustice · Nomothetic and idiographic · Qualitative research · Sample (material · Social issues · Social science · Sociology · Unemployment · Employment and Welfare Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works4
Citations per year1,33
Citation span2023 - 2026 (4)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4
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