TY - JOUR
T1 - Job loss and its aftermath among managers and professionals
T2 - wounded, fragmented and flexible
AU - Gabriel, Yiannis
AU - Gray, David E.
AU - Goregaokar, Harshita
PY - 2013/2
Y1 - 2013/2
N2 - Based on longitudinal fieldwork with unemployed managers and professionals in their 50s, the article examines the meaning of job loss to these people and charts their subsequent efforts to restore their lives. The article identifies core similarities in their experiences and discerns different narrative strategies through which they have tried to make sense of their dismissal and sustain their selfhood. For all, job loss was a considerable trauma leading to a fragmentation of identity; this was compounded by subsequent rejection and perceived discrimination. Few were able to resume their earlier careers; the majority had to adjust their expectations downwards and opt for either virtual deskilling in less well paid and less demanding jobs or for an assortment of part-time, casual and voluntary work. Best 'adapted' (and least fragmented) were those who were prepared to forsake hopes of a return to high-powered jobs and display flexibility, resourcefulness and opportunism in adapting to their reduced circumstances.
AB - Based on longitudinal fieldwork with unemployed managers and professionals in their 50s, the article examines the meaning of job loss to these people and charts their subsequent efforts to restore their lives. The article identifies core similarities in their experiences and discerns different narrative strategies through which they have tried to make sense of their dismissal and sustain their selfhood. For all, job loss was a considerable trauma leading to a fragmentation of identity; this was compounded by subsequent rejection and perceived discrimination. Few were able to resume their earlier careers; the majority had to adjust their expectations downwards and opt for either virtual deskilling in less well paid and less demanding jobs or for an assortment of part-time, casual and voluntary work. Best 'adapted' (and least fragmented) were those who were prepared to forsake hopes of a return to high-powered jobs and display flexibility, resourcefulness and opportunism in adapting to their reduced circumstances.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84873926855&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0950017012460326
U2 - 10.1177/0950017012460326
DO - 10.1177/0950017012460326
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84873926855
SN - 0950-0170
VL - 27
SP - 56
EP - 72
JO - Work, Employment and Society
JF - Work, Employment and Society
IS - 1
ER -