American Dream breeds shame and blame for job seekers

[Liberal_in_LA]

Victor Tan Chen studies some of the unluckiest people in the US.

The sociology fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, researches car workers in cities like Detroit, hard-hit by the economic downturn and by long-term trends in the US industrial base.

"But they used to be the luckiest men in America," Chen says.

Decades ago, car workers lived the quintessential American Dream: they pursued stable, well-paying, union-backed jobs, often straight out of high school. They were able to build a middle-class life and provide the promise of something better to their children.

Times have changed.

Now jobs are scarce, and people feel shame in being unprepared for the current labour market.

"Unemployed auto workers, factory workers, they have a lot of regrets about the past," he said.

"A lot of workers are internalising, 'You succeed on your own merits and your own abilities, and if you fail, you're to blame'," Chen says.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26669971

[Brigid]

1. I vividly remember what completed my turn to the left.

I remember it so vividly I'm surprised I don't remember the exact date, but it was the mid-eighties. had just gotten out of the Marine Corps, and was job-hunting in the town where my family was and where I went to college: Terre Haute. Returning there was my first mistake, but I digress. I had been looking for a long time, and was discouraged and wondering what was wrong with me. I applied for a job at the local newspaper. It was nothing much -- just a part-time job typing legal notices. The guy called me back to his office (the paper was still located in an old brick building on Wabash Avenue back then, just a couple of blocks from my apartment). He said he had given the the job to someone else. He would surely have been horrified to know what I did next. I went home and I cried for four hours straight. I am not exaggerating. By the time I had cried myself out, I was angry in a way I really can't describe, even now. I realized that I had been blaming myself for something that was not my fault. I had been internalizing, just like this article says. I have hated Terre Haute ever since, and have had a deeply cynical attitude toward job-hunting and employers ever since. Another small but important incident during a job-hunt a few years later let me know that most employers are morons anyway.

Now imagine that kind of anger writ large. Imagine a Frank Kowalski type, only considerably younger. He is not ready for retirement yet, and he is told he has already outlived his usefulness. At least Kowalski had his house paid off, a pension or Social Security to live on, and didn't have kids at home to feed. The younger versions of Kowalski are what the 1% just don't give a damn about. One day soon, I pray it will cost them.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Thank you for sharing your story

When rejected during a job hunt, it's hard to not take it personally.