Description
The peak of over one million unemployed in 1972 reawakened controversies about the social contract between society and the worker, which had lain dormant since the Depression. There was concern at the scale of unemployment but a complacent belief that in the Welfare State the unemployed no longer suffer. Indeed it was feared that benefits had become too generous and were now encouraging unemployment and breeding work-shy scroungers. In various ways the workless were accused of failing in their duty to work.Through closely detailed interviews this study invites the reader to see unemployment through the eyes of some workless men and their families. Photographs of the everyday activities and relationships of the families present a separate, complementary and parallel visual essay on the same experiences of unemployment.
The authors asked whether under modern conditions unemployment could become an opportunity for some individuals to explore areas of their personalities not fulfilled in work. But without work the men slowly lose their morale and sense of identity. The authors conclude that the workless still need work as well as better support from social security; that it is not the workless who fail in their duty, but work and the state which failed them.
