Lecture 13: Work & Unemployment

Question 1

job stress

Answer 1

a product of the economic system, labour market, social structures of inequality, and the intersection of social structures

Question 2

Socio-structural explanation for mental health highlights:

Answer 2

• Linkages among macroeconomic change, changes in nature of work, and relationship between workers and employers, and psychological well-being impact exposure to job stress
• Stratification systems define location in labour market segments, which affects job stress
• Intersection of family and work institution

Question 3

job conditions and distress

Answer 3

Demands of jobs can cause stress

Question 4

Explanatory frameworks for the relationship between job conditions and distress

Answer 4

• demand/control model
• demand/resource model
• effort/reward imbalance model
• constraints/resources model

Question 5

Demand/control model

Answer 5

• The ability to balance demands and decision latitude (the amount of autonomy in the job to deal with demands) is strongly related to worker well-being
• People with high demands and low decision latitude are at higher risk of psychological distress

Question 6

demand/resource model

Answer 6

• Addition of social support and resources
• Demands and resources are considered more broadly in this model
• Argues that demands and resources can have mediating or buffering effects against stress

Question 7

Effort/reward imbalance model

Answer 7

• Discrepancy between demands and rewards
• Too many demands and not enough rewards can be detrimental to mental health

Question 8

Constraints/resources model

Answer 8

• Actions are influenced by constraints/resources
• Suggests that psychological distress results from social actions that are taken by the individual
• However, those actions are influenced by the constraints and resources
• Similar to the demand/resource model, but it explicitly notes that these demands occur in the level of macro-level, meso-level, and micro-level demands and processes

Question 9

unemployment as a stressor

Answer 9

• Leads to greater psychological distress
• Consequences for identity and financial strain
• Causes are structural and involuntary
• Effects are counterbalanced by reemployment (but not all of the time)

Question 10

changing the work landscape

Answer 10

• Changing the nature of work
  Ex. remote work, AI
• Changing labour market
• Segmentation into “good jobs” (core segment) and “bad jobs” (peripheral segment)

Question 11

social stratification and job stress

Answer 11

Differential risk for being in good vs. bad jobs

Question 12

Those more likely to be found in “bad” jobs are

Answer 12

• Women
• Those with less education
• Racial/ethnic minorities
• Foreign-born

Question 13

work and family

Answer 13

• Family dynamics affect the characteristics of the workplace
• Helps explain preferences for non-standard work schedules
• Workplace characteristics affect family dynamics
• Influence of family-friendly work policies
• Bidirectional interference
• Distress stemming from opposing role obligations