INDIGMA lecture by Ofer Sharone
Ofer Sharone:
The Stigma Trap: College-educated, Experienced, and Long-Term Unemployed
In this talk, Sharone will discuss stigma as an invisible but ubiquitous force that is powerful enough to erase the significance of past educational and professional achievements.
Sharone shows how the unemployment stigma renders all workers—including workers who are highly experienced and hold advanced degrees from elite universities—precarious and vulnerable to being trapped in long-term unemployment.
Drawing on interviews with workers, recruiters, and career coaches he analyzes the ways that the unemployment stigma distorts how employers view jobseekers. But it is not only employers. The same stigma rears its head when an unemployed worker tries to network with former colleagues, receive support from a coach, or even turn to a close friend or a spouse. With stigma reflected back from all directions it can be internalized and appear when one looks in the mirror.
In his talk he shows the subtle and profound ways that the unemployment stigma sets a trap that is difficult to escape, and provides a sociological approach to supporting unemployed workers, and to countering this stigma and the institutions that underlie it.
The lecture is arranged as part of the PhD course titled Experiences of (in)dignity and (in)equality in society, Doctoral School of People and Technology at 真人线上娱乐 University.
Registration
The lectures are free and open to the public. Registration is not necessary.