Unemployment: Socio-Psychological Perspectives

This book, while acknowledging the importance of macro-studies on unemployment which traditionally remain a concern of the economists, deals with the dynamics of the quality of experiences of educated youth in the context of unemployment problem in India. It deals with the questions – "how do the educated youth react to the unemployment problem and how do they cope with the prevalent prospects and challenges?" through the study of their perceptions and attributions of unemployment problem. While addressing specific issues, it has tried to pool together the extensive Western and the limited Indian research on effects of unemployment on psychological well-being and coping behaviours among the most sensitive groups: ‘hob seekers’ and ‘job losers’, in the domain of social psychology of unemployment. It reveals that the negative effects of unemployment problem strike deep into the psyche of educated youth and dampen their expectations. The salience and perceived applicability of knowledge base, and beliefs attached to unemployment, remain important determinants of differential experiences of unemployment. It argues that steps towards labour market flexibility may not solve the unemployment problem, as such, it is the time to guide educated youth to cope up the challenges through mechanisms that facilitate attitudinal changes and positive thinking so that human resources are channelised for development processes. It presents some guidelines for potential intervention efforts, which would be useful for education and employment policy makers and planners, psychologists and counselors, researchers and institutions; concerned with the unemployment problem and its human and social consequences.