Review by Sara Franco da Silva
Carmo, Renato Miguel do e Maria Madalena d’Avelar (2020), A Miséria do Tempo: Vidas Suspensas pelo Desemprego, Lisboa, Tinta da China.
In contemporary societies, labour market exclusion is one of the factors intensifying disadvantages, inequalities, and weakening conditions for social participation and recognition. The referenced study informs us about experiences within these processes through the analysis of unemployment. Here, unemployment is approached as a multidimensional phenomenon with consequences that extend beyond material and economic deprivation, with devastating effects on daily life organization, future prospects, physical and mental health, as well as household dynamics. Going beyond institutional statistical indicators, this work delves into the multiple meanings individuals attribute to the experience of unemployment.
This book is published as part of a broader research project [1] and includes a series of studies set against the backdrop of globalization and intense deregulation and flexibilization of labour relations, exacerbated in its consequences by the international economic and financial crisis. From a sociological perspective on social inequalities, the book presents a diverse range of testimonies that illustrate the impacts of the proliferation of a society of malaise, uncertainty, and insecurity on the experiences of population groups characterized by situations of high social and economic vulnerability. Its reading offers different perspectives on how social segments strongly affected by macroeconomic instability and malaise – such as the unemployed or those in precarious conditions, with low qualifications, and advanced ages – experience their ways of life, organize their daily lives, and construct future expectations.
Authors Renato Miguel do Carmo and Maria Madalena d’Avelar draw on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the “misery of the world” (1993) to capture the perceptions and feelings of malaise experienced by the unemployed, who tend to accumulate “small miseries” throughout their trajectories. In addition to the economic vulnerability associated with job loss (often linked to poverty), this segment also witnesses the disruption of their daily routines, living in a situation of permanent instability. Two central processes faced by the unemployed are highlighted: the process of “social downgrading” (Paugam, 2003), experienced when individuals transition from a situation marked by some stability to one inferior to what they previously knew; and the process of “disaffiliation” (Castel, 2000), which identifies social situations characterized simultaneously by insufficient material resources and the weakening of social ties and relationships.
The notion of “social time” assumes a high centrality in the theoretical problematization developed. The authors rely on this concept to understand how the unemployed, confronted with processes of disruption in their daily lives or “forced stoppage,” experience and organize time: how they live their everyday lives and how they envision extended time in terms of future possibilities and plans. The concept of “social time” is complex and multidimensional, thus a set of authors was mobilized to problematize it in search of the structural dimensions that traverse experiences and perceptions regarding different types of temporalities. In this regard, the works of Harvey (1989) and Castells (2003) are referenced, pointing out the impacts of technological advancements and network society on daily life experiences; the processes “social acceleration” that characterise modern societies, associated with the “temporal compression” of social processes from Hartmut Rosa’s notion (2013); and the imbalance between the time dedicated to family and work and the consequent risk of the “one-dimensionality of social and individual life,” with reference to Marcuse’s work (1964).
Using testimonies from the individuals themselves and based on empirical data from 46 semi-structured interviews with unemployed people, a sociological approach grounded in a qualitative methodological orientation is adopted. This methodological orientation made it possible to systematically decipher the meaning that individuals attribute to their intersubjective experiences, deeply capturing the multidimensional interpretations and meanings they construct about their concrete reality.
The diversity of the sample was ensured regarding age distribution, gender, level of education, some territorial dispersion (Greater Lisbon Area and Greater Porto Area), as well as the multiplicity of the unemployment situations experienced by individuals. It is noteworthy that the analytical orientation aims to encompass a diversity of situations within the notion of unemployment, such as people in situations of underemployment or those unemployed “between” jobs, usually excluded from the analytical and empirical field of research on the phenomenon, relying exclusively on traditional statistical indicators – going beyond the institutional definitions produced by the National Statistical Institute (INE).
Through the adopted methodological strategy, this research captured the multiplicity of experiences and meanings that individuals in a situation of “forced stoppage” experience as a consequence of unemployment. Quite diverse forms of experiencing “social time” emerged, reflecting different situations of social vulnerability. The effects of different unemployment situations on the relationship established with daily time (in actum time) and future time/path (iter time) became evident through the interviewees’ discourses, leading to the identification of four temporal profiles: destitution (unemployment introduces disruption of daily life and the perception of a directionless future); occupation (although daily life remains structured, there is an inability to build future prospects); postponement (unemployment causes disruption of daily life, but there is the creation of perspectives and hopes for the future); reconstruction (there is the capacity to create new daily routines as well as to build future projects).
In addition to the results found regarding the multiplicity of the effects of unemployment on the organization of daily life or on the projection of plans for the future, effects also emerge at the level of the relationship established with the domestic space, often associated with imprisonment; but also the effects associated with trends of isolation and depression, with serious consequences on the physical and mental well-being of these individuals; the importance of the role that social support plays in experiencing unemployment with fewer feelings of uncertainty and insecurity is noticeable; or the perspectives built about the “other.” The interviews conducted also allowed the construction of a set of sociological portraits of people in unemployment situations (belonging to each of the identified unemployment profiles), referring to the theoretical-methodological framework proposed by Lahire (2004). Through first-person discourses, access was gained not only to the objective dimensions that characterize these trajectories but also to the subjective perceptions that subjects construct. By placing substantive emphasis on individuals’ perceptions and experiences, variations in their interpretations, behaviours, and ways of experiencing unemployment were captured. This variation between attitudes, experiences, and perceptions is quite evident when addressing the relationship interviewees establish with social time, making it possible to find different profiles of lived temporality. The “social variation” of individual behaviours (Lahire, 2004) would be difficult to achieve using a quantitative methodology based solely on statistical indicators.
It is also worth noting the innovative nature of the publication, which includes the launch of a web documentary “Too Young to Be Old [Demasiado Novo para ser Velho]” [2], focusing on the stories of four people over 55 years old experiencing invisibility, “on the margins of society.” This seeks to give “voice” to individuals experiencing these situations of distress and social vulnerability.
Additionally, the fact that this work adopts a writing style accessible to diverse audiences is emphasized, not limited to academia. Therefore, it is a work that allows the sharing of information that can be read in an accessible way by the general public, which can be used for pedagogical purposes or as empirical and analytical reference for other scientific research.
Finally, it is important to underline the relevance of the publication of this book during the social crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. With the pandemic and the consequent suspension of a large part of economic and social activities, there was a proliferation of feelings of malaise and uncertainty in societies. According to the Eurofound report (2020), in the European context, a significant part of the population witnessed the deterioration of their material living conditions, with the loss of financial resources: situations multiplied where people lost their jobs or were placed on layoff or had their employment contracts suspended or not renewed. The people most affected by these dynamics are those who already accumulated previous situations of social and economic vulnerability (precarious jobs and low qualifications). The portraits presented in this book facilitate new perspectives on the underlying complexity of the situation of great economic fragility and its significant impacts on different spheres of participation in social life. Additionally, we can also recall that a significant part of the population started working from home (remote work). All these dynamics abruptly and structurally altered the ways in which work is done, how domestic space is experienced, and how daily time is organized.
The book provides very pertinent reflections on these dynamics that are once again sharply relevant in our “new” reality, clearly highlighting the importance of public policies that can reach people in situations of greater vulnerability.
References
Bourdieu, P. (Coord.) (1993). A Miséria do Mundo. Petrópolis: Editora Vozes.
Castel, R. (2000). The Roads to Disaffiliation: Insecure Work and Vulnerable Relationships. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 24, 519-535.
Castells, M. (2003). A Era da Informação: Economia, Sociedade e Cultura. Vol. II, O Poder da Identidade. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Eurofound (2020). Living, working and COVID-19. COVID-19 series. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Harvey, D. (1989). The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Wiley-Blackwell.
Lahire, B. (2004). Retratos Sociológicos. Disposições e variações individuais; trad. Patrícia Chittoni Ramos Reuillard e Didier Martin. Porto Alegre: Artmed.
Marcuse, H. ([1964] 2012). O Homem Unidimensional – Sobre a ideologia da sociedade industrial avançada. Lisboa: Letra Li.
Paugam, S. (2003 [1991]). Desqualificação Social: Ensaio Sobre a Nova Pobreza. Porto: Porto Editora.
Rosa, H. (2013) (2005). Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity. New York: Columbia University Press.
Notes
[1] EmployALL – The employment crisis and the Welfare State in Portugal: halting the production of social vulnerabilities and inequalities. Project coordinated by Renato Miguel do Carmo, ongoing at CIES-Iscte. Partner institutions: CES-University of Coimbra, IDEFF, and ICS-University of Lisbon.
[2] Available at https://www.demasiadonovoparaservelho.pt/.
