David L. Blustein - Böcker

Work plays an essential role in how we engage with the world, reflecting our desire to be productive, creative, and connected to others. By exploring the inner experiences of people at work, people seeking work, and people transitioning in and out of work, this book provides a rich and complex picture of the contemporary work experience. Drawing from extensive interviews with working people across the US, as well as insights from psychological research on work and careers, the book provides compelling evidence that the nature of work in the US is eroding-- and with powerful psychological and social consequences. From this conclusion, the book also illustrates the rationale and roadmap for a renewed agenda toward full employment and toward fair and dignified jobs for all who want to work. The emotional insights complement the conclusions of the best science and policy analyses on working, culminating in a powerful call for policies that attend to the real lives of individuals in 21st century America. By weaving these various sources together, Blustein delineates a conception of working that conveys its complexity, richness, and capacity for both joy and despair.

Work is a central aspect of life, providing a source of structure, a means of survival, connection to others, and optimally a means of self-determination. Across the globe, people devote considerable time and effort to preparing for, adjusting to, and managing their work lives. Many of the major crises affecting people and communities--including wars, famines, poverty, and risks to personal safety--have been and continue to be related to working. At the same time, working, when it is dignified and meaningful, can create the foundation for a satisfying life that allows people to support themselves and their families, and to find an outlet for their values and interests in the world of work. This handbook is designed to expand and deepen a growing discourse about the psychological nature of working. Building on critiques of psychology's traditional assumptions and practices about work and career, the psychology of working perspective has been advanced as an inclusive, broad-reaching framework that explores the nature of working for the full spectrum of people who work and who want to work. This volume is characterized by disciplinary pluralism with contributions from a wide range of scholars and practitioners interested in the role of work in people's lives. Chapters explore theoretical foundations, the context of working, counseling and psychotherapy, organizational implications, community-based interventions, and public policy. As a major resource in the psychology of working field, this book is a must-have for counseling and clinical psychologists, I/O psychologists, mental-health counselors, social workers, management consultants, and a wide array of researchers and students who are concerned with the nature of work in the 21st century, transformative scholarship, public policy, and inclusive psychological practice.

Work is a central aspect of life, providing a source of structure, a means of survival, connection to others, and optimally a means of self-determination. Across the globe, people devote considerable time and effort in preparing for, adjusting to, and managing their work lives. Many of the major crises affecting people and communities have been and continue to be related to working, including wars, famines, poverty, and risks to personal safety. At the same time, working, when it is dignified and meaningful, can create the foundation for a satisfying life that allows people to support themselves and their families, and to find an outlet for their values and interests in the world of work. This handbook is designed to expand and deepen a growing discourse about the psychological nature of working. Building on critiques of traditional assumptions and practices about work and career in psychology, the psychology of working perspective has been advanced as an inclusive, broad-reaching framework that explores the nature of working for the full spectrum of people who work and who want to work. This volume is characterized by disciplinary pluralism with contributions from a wide range of scholars and practitioners interested in the role of work in people's lives. Chapters explore theoretical foundations, the context of working, counseling and psychotherapy, organizational implications, community-based interventions, and public policy. As a major resource in the psychology of working field, this book is a must-have for counseling and clinical psychologists, I/O psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, management consultants, and a wide array of researchers and students who are concerned with the nature of work in the 21st century, transformative scholarship, public policy, and inclusive psychological practice.

This collection of brief essays by thought-leaders, scholars, activists, psychologists, and social scientists imagines new workplace structures and policies that promote decent and fair work for all members of society, especially those who are most vulnerable. The world of work has been deteriorating for decades and the very institution of work needs to be systematically understood, critiqued, reimagined, and rebuilt. This book offers thoughtful suggestions for new work arrangements, individual strategies for enhancing one’s work life, and recommendations for innovative systemic and institutional reforms. The collection offers critical analyses in conjunction with constructive solutions on rebuilding work, providing direction and context for ongoing debates and policy discussions about work. The book will be of interest to activists, policy makers, management and leaders, scholars, professionals, students, and general readers interested work-based reform efforts and social change.