The psychology of precarity: A critical framework.

This article presents the rationale and a new critical framework for precarity, which reflects a psychosocial concept that links structural inequities with experiences of alienation, anomie, and uncertainty. Emerging from multiple disciplines, including anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, political science, and psychology, the concept of precarity provides a conceptual scaffolding for understanding the complex causes of precarious life circumstances while also seeking to identify how people react, adapt, and resist the forces that evoke such tenuous psychosocial experiences. We present a critical conceptual framework as a nonlinear heuristic that serves to identify and organize relevant elements of precarity in a presumably infinite number of contexts and applications.

Precarious work and workplace dignity during COVID-19: A longitudinal study.

Building upon the psychology of working theory (PWT), the goal of the present study was to examine longitudinal relations among precarious work, workplace dignity, and basic need fulfillment (survival, social contribution, and self-determination needs). To examine our hypotheses, we surveyed a group of working adults in the United States three times over three months. However, the study began in March 2020 - before widespread lockdowns, layoffs, and furloughs - and some participants lost their jobs on subsequent waves during April and May 2020.

"Like a tsunami coming in fast": A critical qualitative study of precarity and resistance during the pandemic.

This study explores the nature of precarity via the lens of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Precarity refers to uncertainty, loss, disruption, and anxiety, which differentially impact people across contexts. We sought to (a) identify how people understand and resist precarity during the pandemic; (b) explore the potential of precarity to serve as an organizing concept for psychological praxis and research; and (c) explore ways in which psychology of working theory (PWT) may be enriched by an infusion of precarity into its theoretical tenets.

The uncertain state of work in the U.S.: Profiles of decent work and precarious work.

This research utilized a person-centered approach to identify profiles of decent work and precarious work, which were explored due to their centrality in current debates about the uncertain state of work conditions in the U.S. Using the Decent Work Scale and the Precarious Work Scale, the following five profiles were identified from a sample of 492 working Americans: 1) Indecent-Precarious; 2) Highly Decent; 3) Low Health Care-Low Rights; 4) Vulnerability-Dominant; 5) Health Care-Stability.

Unemployment in the time of COVID-19: A research agenda.

This essay represents the collective vision of a group of scholars in vocational psychology who have sought to develop a research agenda in response to the massive global unemployment crisis that has been evoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The research agenda includes exploring how this unemployment crisis may differ from previous unemployment periods; examining the nature of the grief evoked by the parallel loss of work and loss of life; recognizing and addressing the privilege of scholars; examining the inequality that underlies the disproportionate impact of the crisis on poor and working class communities; developing a framework for evidence-based interventions for unemployed individuals; and examining the work-family interface and unemployment among youth.

A qualitative exploration of women's work aspirations and beliefs on meritocracy.

Meritocratic beliefs continue to be widely accepted in the United States; nonetheless, upward mobility is out of reach for many American women due to pervasive barriers to accessing decent work. The present study aims to explore American women's work aspirations and beliefs in the American Dream (the premise that no matter where people come from, with hard work, they can achieve prosperity) in light of the gap between this notion and the social inequalities in their working lives. We conducted semistructured interviews with 17 American women from diverse racial, educational, and work backgrounds to examine these women's work aspirations and beliefs on the American Dream.

A qualitative investigation of beliefs about work-related crises in the United States.

Globalization, technological advancements, and macroeconomic forces have created significant challenges for working in the United States and other countries. Recent crises about working include long-term unemployment/underemployment and the rise of precarious work, which negatively impact individuals' mental health and well-being. To fully understand the nature and impact of these problems, it is essential to give voice to the people whose lives are affected by the work-related crises.

Decent work and well-being among low-income Turkish employees: Testing the psychology of working theory.

People from lower social classes experience significant difficulties in many life domains including work, yet their work lives continue to be understudied in psychology. This study examined the applicability of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), which emphasizes the role of socioeconomic constraints in shaping work and well-being outcomes, in a non-Western, collectivist cultural framework. Specifically, we tested the associations of social class with work volition and career adaptability in predicting decent work and job and life satisfaction with a sample of 401 low-income Turkish employees.

The development and initial validation of need satisfaction scales within the psychology of working theory.

The psychology of working theory (PWT; Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016) provides a framework to understand predictors and outcomes of decent work. Given that basic need satisfaction is hypothesized to be a primary mediator in the link between decent work and well-being, it is essential to have valid and reliable scales that are consistent with the PWT framework. In the current study, we developed the Work Needs Satisfaction Scales, a set of instruments designed to measure satisfaction of survival, social contribution, and self-determination needs from a PWT perspective.

An examination of the Psychology of Working Theory with racially and ethnically diverse employed adults.

The present study tested key tenets of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) in a sample of 526 racially and ethnically diverse employed adults. The authors investigated how economic resources and marginalization predicted decent work through experiences of work volition and career adaptability. Support for the hypotheses was mixed.

The development and initial validation of the Decent Work Scale.

Decent work is positioned as the centerpiece of the recently developed Psychology of Working Theory (PWT; Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016). However, to date, no instrument exists which assesses all 5 components of decent work from a psychological perspective. In the current study, we developed the Decent Work Scale (DWS) and demonstrated several aspects of validity with 2 samples of working adults.

Decent Work: A Psychological Perspective.

This contribution, which serves as the lead article for the Research Topic entitled "From Meaning of Working to Meaningful Lives: The Challenges of Expanding Decent Work," explores current challenges in the development and operationalization of decent work. Based on an initiative from the International Labor Organization [ILO] (1999) decent work represents an aspirational statement about the quality of work that should be available to all people who seek to work around the globe. Within recent years, several critiques have been raised about decent work from various disciplines, highlighting concerns about a retreat from the social justice ethos that had initially defined the concept.

Preparation for Meaningful Work and Life: Urban High School Youth's Reflections on Work-Based Learning 1 Year Post-Graduation.

The challenges confronted by low-income high school students throughout school and across the transition to higher education and employment are well-documented in the US and many other nations. Adopting a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2005), this study reports findings from interviews with 18 low-income, racially and ethnically diverse graduates of an urban Catholic high school in the US.

The Psychology of Working Theory.

In the current article, we build on research from vocational psychology, multicultural psychology, intersectionality, and the sociology of work to construct an empirically testable Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). Our central aim is to explain the work experiences of all individuals, but particularly people near or in poverty, people who face discrimination and marginalization in their lives, and people facing challenging work-based transitions for which contextual factors are often the primary drivers of the ability to secure decent work. The concept of decent work is defined and positioned as the central variable within the theory.

Exploring urban students' constructions about school, work, race, and ethnicity.

This qualitative study is an exploration of 32 urban high school students' narratives about the connection between school, work, and societal expectations of their future success related to their racial and ethnic background. The sample varied along 2 contextual dimensions: participation in a psychoeducational intervention (Tools for Tomorrow) and developmental status (i.e.

The role of work in psychological health and well-being: a conceptual, historical, and public policy perspective.

The primary theme of this article, which serves as the introductory contribution of a special section of the American Psychologist, is that work plays a central role in the development, expression, and maintenance of psychological health. The argument underlying this assumption is articulated at the outset of the article in conjunction with a historical review of vocational psychology and industrial/organizational psychology. The article follows with an overview of contemporary vocational psychology and a presentation of the psychology-of-working perspective, which has emerged from critiques of vocational psychology and from multicultural, feminist, and expanded epistemological analyses of psychological explorations of working.