Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health: Comparing and Contrasting the US and the Czech Republic

A substantial amount of research in the United States examines the relationship between unemployment and mental health, but it often focuses on financial strain. Recent research has begun to use a social-psychological approach to explore the importance of identity in the unemployment-mental health process. However, cross-national research taking this approach is limited. In this presentation, I will summarize the findings from my qualitative research on this topic in the United States, as published in Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health (Rutgers University Press, 2016). I will then provide an overview of my planned Fulbright research project in which I examine this topic using a social-psychological approach in the Czech Republic. A cross-national approach is key to understanding the ways that national structure, culture, and history help shape the unemployment experience. Cross-national work can also help inform coping and support strategies for unemployed individuals and the organizations that serve them.

Dawn R. Norris, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) in the United States. She is currently a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Univerzita Karlova. She uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches to study work/unemployment, age, and mental health as they relate to identity and transitions. She has published in journals such as The Sociological Quarterly, Symbolic Interaction, and Research on Aging, among others. Her book Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health (Rutgers University Press, 2016) takes a symbolic interactionist approach to examine structural factors relevant to identity processes after job loss, as well as the ways that identity relates to mental health in the context of the Great Recession’s aftermath. Her work is currently being used in unemployment counseling at Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States. Her current research involves using a cross-national perspective to examine job loss, identity, and mental health.

The seminar is freely accessible for those attending f2f, if you intend to attend online, please fill in your email here  and we will send you a link on the day of the seminar.