Does unemployment still have a meaning? Findings from a comparison of three conurbations

TLDR: In this article, a comparative approach based on biographical interviews with unemployed people in three conurbations (Paris, Sao Paulo, Tokyo) reveals both the robustness and fragility of joblessness as a category, thus constituting a useful adjunct to standardised comparisons.

Abstract: There have been many international comparisons of unemployment (in the sense of the ILO), usually measured by applying codified indicators based on set norms. Our approach is entirely different. Comparability is not assumed in advance, simply by adjusting the measurement instrument, but itself becomes the object of investigation: is unemployment a meaningful and robust category that gives the jobless an identity in very different societies? In order to answer this question, the article outlines the different phases of a comparative approach based on biographical interviews with unemployed people in three conurbations (Paris, Sao Paulo, Tokyo). A comprehensive comparison reveals both the robustness and the fragility of joblessness as a category, thus constituting a useful adjunct to standardised comparisons. In the tradition of figurational sociology, we see unemployment as a nexus, a point of intersection between normativities that vary with time and space and subjectivities that vary with social status and personal itineraries.

Figures

Fig. 5. Map of the mothers target group in the three conurbations.

Fig. 3. Map of interviews in São Paulo.

Fig. 2. Map of interviews in Paris.

Table 2 Breakdown into target groups of people interviewed in each metropolitan context.

Table 1 A few salient features of the condition of the unemployed in the three metropolitan contexts.

Fig. 1. Positional map of all the interviews.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the contributions mentioned in the paper "Does unemployment still have a meaning? findings from a comparison of three conurbations" ?

Their approach is entirely different. In order to answer this question, the article outlines the different phases of a com-parative approach based on biographical interviews with unemployed people in three conurbations ( Paris, São Paulo, Tokyo ). 

Q2. What is the role of the attractor in the definition of unemployment?

In São Paulo, informal activities that bring varying levels of income have a specific attractor role, which sustains the definitions of situation that combine the contribution to family solidarity, the economic benefits of the activity practiced and projection towards more official or better paid jobs. 

Q3. What is the distribution of the target groups?

Whichever of the target groups the authors consider (managers, workers, mothers, youngsters), the distribution on the map is widely scattered, and never confined to one or other of the subspaces. 

Q4. What are the specificities of the biographical narratives?

While these specificities arise from biographical narratives, they are also reflections of the forms in which statuses and activities are codified and classified, and of the means used to manage joblessness. 

Q5. What are the characteristics of the mothers who differ from the disparate forms of withdrawal?

In these two contexts, the mothers who differ most sharply from the disparate forms of withdrawal, and who show the greatest motivation to find work, are also those who are closest to the managers in their characteristics (in terms of education and career history), as if these social factors mitigated the influence of gender-based social relations. 

Q6. What are the differences between workers and managers?

These differences between workers and managers reflect inequalities in employability and employer appeal, which help to mold the biographical experience of unemployment. 

Q7. What led us to outline clusters of meanings?

This led us to outline clusters of meanings, which the authors sought to connect and situate in relation to each other, in a dual process of organization of the material and gradual theoretical formulation.