Kulturers påverkan på upplevelsen av arbetslösa och meningen med arbete
PhenomenologyIntercultural psychologyMCAIndividualistic cultureCollectivistic cultureMeaning of workUnemployedPsychologyPsykologiSocial Sciences
The aim of the study was to distinguish if there was a difference between how work is perceived and how unemployed are viewed by people in collectivistic and individualistic cultures. A phenomenological approach was used in order to capture the participants life-worlds and their meaning constitution of a phenomenon, in this case the meaning of work and how unemployed are viewed. Subjects from different parts of the world, belonging to either a collectivistic or individualistic culture, participated in this study. Data was collected by self-reports which were analyzed by the method of MCA (Meaning Constitution Analysis) and the software Minerva. The results indicated that there were differences in how individuals from collectivistic cultures compared to individuals from individualistic cultures reflected about the meaning of work. No differences were found in how the participants viewed unemployed, regardless of their culture.