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Inferring the Meaning of Work From the Effects of Unemployment
Author(s) -
Brief Arthur P.,
Konovsky Mary A.,
Goodwin Rik,
Link Karen
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1995.tb01769.x
Subject(s) - unemployment , meaning (existential) , psychology , work (physics) , social psychology , positive economics , epistemology , economics , philosophy , psychotherapist , macroeconomics , thermodynamics , physics
Questionnaire data from 148 unemployed individuals were analyzed to investigate the meaning for work. Both economic and experiential functions of work were examined. The data revealed that, as predicted, increasing length of unemployment was associated with increasing economic and experiential deprivation. Economic deprivation, in turn, was associated with both more experiential deprivation and lower subjective well‐being. Unexpectedly, experiential deprivation was not related to subjective well‐being. The results indicate the importance of the economic functions of work in people's lives.