Zeng, Q. (2012). Youth unemployment and the risk of social relationship exclusion. A qualitative study in a Chinese Context. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 17 (2-3), 85-94. DOI:10.1080/02673843.2012.656196.
Article Summary:
Unemployment has a grave negative effect on people’s social relationships, mostly the youths. In exploring the effect of unemployment on youths , the scholars subjected their research on the following four questions:
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What are the effects of unemployment on unemployed Chinese Youth?
Do the effects vary in accordance with different social relations?
Which factors contribute to the process of being affected?
How do unemployed youth cope with their unemployment?
In examining of related literature, the scholars established that during the 1930s when there was an economic recession, which resulted in loss of jobs among most youths, unemployment led to less social ties and the affected people failed to participate in community-related activities. Various scholars have established that unemployment affects the youths negatively, leading to fewer interactions with their peers. The unemployment deprivation theory posits that employment does not only help in bringing in salary, but it also aids in the establishment of social ties among people. Moreover, joblessness affects the structure of a given social relationship since most of the unemployed youths operate from home and tend to communicate or form relationships with their unemployed counterparts, leading to social isolation or segregation. It is also unfortunate that their social support is limited due to the related isolation.
The study used a grounded theory method in examining the qualitative data that was obtained from the 45 minute interviews with 19 unemployed youths from Shanghai aged between 16 and 25 years. The interview took place in 2004 and 2005 whereby four of the subjects were interviewed twice.
Results revealed that unemployment changes young people’s instrumental ties; therefore, are prone to social isolation. This is because employment helps in offering people significant social contacts apart from their families and normal routines are one way in which youths end up having social contacts . In that case, loss of jobs results in deprivation of these social ties and contacts . Moreover, financial instability leads to less social contacts since the unemployed lot cannot afford basic amenities such as a dinner. It was also noted that unemployed youths ended up losing their face since some of them regard such status as shameful, mostly in circumstances where a good number of their neighbors and friends are employed. In that case, their reaction to unemployment stems from comparing themselves with the employed lot.
Despite the negative effects, the survey revealed that people with expressive ties were not ashamed of their jobless status and tended to receive a lot of support from their friends. Moreover, they do not see the need to save face within their ties but rather their unemployment results to other parties caring more about them. Nevertheless, expressive ties cannot fulfill all the affected person’s needs such as job recommendations since they are also new in the market and have limited social resources and capital.
It was also noted that unemployed people are drawn to people who have similar problems since they understand each other. In that case, in the same manner, that unemployment ends up separating people, it can also integrate them though they end up being confined to vulnerable groups, lowering their likelihood of getting a job. It was also determined that though some youths cope up with unemployment by contacting their unemployed counterparts, there are others who are more positive. In this case, one of the subjects said that he kept in contact by treating his friends out whenever he had money; therefore, could ask for help from them once he was in a difficult situation. There are also parents who take their unemployed children to social events to get to know influential people within their circles who could help out.
The discussion part concludes that indeed youths are at risk of being socially excluded. Therefore, the researchers propose that is important to enhance social networks, develop internship programs, training , and come up with governmental policies that can enhance social integration. This will go a long way in ensuring that the unemployed youths are taught about their capabilities and are put in touch with the employed lot, mostly the employers to develop integrated networks.
Evaluation
This is an informative study since it has given a limelight to one of the studies that are rarely discussed, regarding the effects of unemployment on social relationships. The article is well articulated with meaningful information that will encourage the right stakeholders such as the government to come up with solutions to curb or reduce unemployment. However, the article focused a lot on problems of unemployment rather than seeking solutions. Moreover, there was insufficient information on the interviews conducted and how each participant faired. On the same note, a list of the hypothesis would have been beneficial in helping carry out the research and identify the answers to each one of them easily. The article also lacks a conclusion and only focuses on exploring the given literature. Moreover, the subjects who were interviewed are only the unemployed youths from Shanghai; hence, there is no room for comparison with other youths . In that case, there is a likelihood of being biased as youths do not behave the same as their actions, or lack thereof is based on their upbringing and environment. Therefore, there is a need for more research on the topic and rational solutions to the problem. Despite the few flaws, the study was easy to read, demonstrated a sound correlation between unemployment and weak social ties or relationships, and employed resent ideas to enhance credibility, offering a strong basis for more research.
Reference
Zeng, Q. (2012). Youth unemployment and the risk of social relationship exclusion. A qualitative study in a Chinese Context. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 17 (2-3), 85-94. DOI:10.1080/02673843.2012.656196.
