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Identity work and the `unemployed' worker: age, disability and the lived experience of the older unemployed

Author

Listed:
  • Kathleen Riach

    (University of Essex, k.riach@essex.ac.uk)

  • Wendy Loretto

    (University of Edinburgh, w.loretto@ed.ac.uk)

Abstract

This article seeks to explore how older individuals negotiate and manage their self-identity in relation to work while situated without paid employment. After reviewing the current positions of the older unemployed in the UK, noting the substantial overlap between age and disability, we turn our attention to conceptualizing the lived experiences of individuals through exploring `identity work' as a means of understanding a non-working work identity. Based upon focus group interviews, our empirical analysis focuses on key dimensions of participants' identity practice and how they sought to manage the following social processes: imposed identities; crafting working identities; and contesting unfavourable working identities.The conclusion contextualizes the findings against a backdrop of increasing individualistic discourses underpinning approaches to employability, closes with the policy implications arising from this study, and makes suggestions for future research agendas.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathleen Riach & Wendy Loretto, 2009. "Identity work and the `unemployed' worker: age, disability and the lived experience of the older unemployed," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(1), pages 102-119, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:23:y:2009:i:1:p:102-119
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017008099780
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ronald W. McQuaid & Colin Lindsay, 2005. "The Concept of Employability," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 197-219, February.
    2. Zaidi, Asghar & Makovec, Mattia & Fuchs, Michael, 2006. "Transition from work to retirement in EU25," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6229, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Paul Letkemann, 2002. "Unemployed Professionals, Stigma Management and Derivative Stigmata," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 16(3), pages 511-522, September.
    4. Mats Alvesson & Hugh Willmott, 2002. "Identity Regulation as Organizational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 619-644, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Remnant, Jen, 2019. "Getting what you deserve: How notions of deservingness feature in the experiences of employees with cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 1-1.

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