Browsing by Author "Michael Schwalbe, Committee Chair"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

"Coping with Unemployment: Self-Concept Repair by Displaced Managers and Professionals"
(2005-12-28) Garrett-Peters, Raymond; Ron Czaja, Committee Member; Maxine Thompson, Committee Member; Michael Schwalbe, Committee Chair
Research on unemployment among managers and professionals has documented the experience of job loss as stressful not only because of economic strain, but because of the damage it does to valued identities and self-conceptions. Little research, however, has examined the processes through which displaced workers collectively attempt to repair this damage. Data from participant observation in four support groups for displaced managers and professionals, plus intensive interviews with twenty-two group members, are used to develop an analysis of the self-concept repair strategies used by these relatively privileged workers. Four main strategies are identified: (a) redefining the meaning of unemployment; (b) realizing accomplishment; (c) restructuring time and activities; and (d) helping others. These strategies are argued to be oriented toward bolstering feelings of self-efficacy damaged by job loss and prolonged unemployment. The analysis shows how these self-concept repair strategies depended upon resources not readily available to blue-collar workers. Also considered are the implications of these strategies for the reproduction of class advantage and for the political mobilization of professional/managerial workers in response to recession and mass unemployment.
Cultivating Consent, Reaping Resistance: Identity-Based Control and Unionization at a High-End Natural Foods Company.
(2010-07-08) McTague, Tricia; Michael Schwalbe, Committee Chair; David Zonderman, Committee Member; Jeffrey Leiter, Committee Member; Michael Schulman, Committee Member; Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Committee Member
It Seems So Simple Now: Complementary and Alternative Medicine as a Resource for Sense-Making
(2009-04-29) Brenton, Joslyn Jane; Ronald Czaja, Committee Member; Maxine Thompson, Committee Member; Michael Schwalbe, Committee Chair
ABSTRACT BRENTON, JOSLYN. "It All Seems So Simple Now" : The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Sense-Making. (Under the direction of Michael Schwalbe). The practice of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the United States has grown rapidly since the mid-1970s. But why are people attracted to these alternative practices and therapies? Drawing on social-psychological theory, this study explores people's CAM use in the context of the shortcomings of conventional medical encounters. In-depth interviews with 20 CAM users reveal that people use two key concepts found in virtually all types of CAM, mind-body connection and vitalism, as resources for therapeutic sense-making. People use CAM to make sense of physical problems such as debilitating back injuries, as well as non-physical problems, such as divorce and eating disorders. A gender pattern in CAM use is also examined. Drawing upon feminist theory, this study makes a significant contribution to a much needed understanding of how and why women's and men's CAM use differ. Women's CAM use is seen as an attempt to reinterpret the conditions that cause their suffering, while men's CAM use is seen as an attempt to change the conditions that cause their problems.
Living with Breast Cancer: Emotion-Work Strategies in Breast Cancer Support Groups
(2007-06-17) Clark, Jacqueline; Maxine Thompson, Committee Member; Ron Czaja, Committee Member; Michael Schwalbe, Committee Chair; Sherryl Kleinman, Committee Member
Research on stress and coping has attempted to explain how people deal with difficult life events, such as the diagnosis of a potentially life-threatening disease. Little attention, however, has been given to how people work together to cope with and manage the emotions evoked by such events. The present study looks at women who joined four breast cancer support groups to help them cope with the emotional fallout of the disease. Data from participant observation in these four groups, in addition to 35 in-depth interviews, are used to develop an analysis of how the women learned to cope collectively with their disease. Seven emotion-work strategies are identified and discussed, including: (a) seeking information; (b) concealing illness; (c) engaging in sexualized joking; (d) practicing compensatory femininity; (e) creating and sharing medicalized stories; (f) taking on the identity of breast cancer survivor; and (g) redefining illness as a blessing. The analysis shows how these strategies were influenced by the class-based resources the women brought with them to the groups. It also illustrates how these strategies (and thus the women's coping efforts) were influenced and constrained by the mainstream breast cancer culture.