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Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons

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Occupational Therapy Publications

Neoliberalism

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Full-Text Articles in Rehabilitation and Therapy

Producing Precarity: The Individualization Of Later Life Unemployment Within Employment Support Provision, Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich Jun 2021

Producing Precarity: The Individualization Of Later Life Unemployment Within Employment Support Provision, Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich

Occupational Therapy Publications

There have been marked policy shifts within many nations towards ‘extended work lives’, with such shifts often underpinned by an assumption that individual aging citizens can make the responsible choice to prolong work and thereby avoid dependency on the state. However, possibilities for extended work lives are inequitably distributed, and older workers who become unemployed often face prolonged unemployment and barriers to obtaining sustainable employment. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study addressing the negotiation of long-term unemployment in two North American cities, this article attends to how jobseekers aged 50 and older, employment support service providers, and organizational stakeholders …


Discerning The Social In Individual Stories Of Occupation Through Critical Narrative Inquiry., Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich Jan 2017

Discerning The Social In Individual Stories Of Occupation Through Critical Narrative Inquiry., Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich

Occupational Therapy Publications

Calls to ‘transcend the individual’ in occupational science have emerged in recognition of the boundaries of individualistic perspectives and the drive to develop a socially responsive science. In this article, we contend that transcending the individual does not equate to neglecting how individuals make sense of and experience occupation; rather, it requires looking at individual constructions of experiences and occupations in critically informed ways that highlight the socio-political influences on those constructions. This discussion article considers how critical narrative inquiry can be taken up as a methodological approach to interpretively link individual ‘stories’ with social ‘stories’ or discourses, enabling further …


“You Got To Make The Numbers Work”: Negotiating Managerial Reforms In The Provision Of Employment Support Service., Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich, John Grundy, Melanie Stone, Suzanne Huot, Awish Aslam Jan 2017

“You Got To Make The Numbers Work”: Negotiating Managerial Reforms In The Provision Of Employment Support Service., Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich, John Grundy, Melanie Stone, Suzanne Huot, Awish Aslam

Occupational Therapy Publications

No abstract provided.


“Activated, But Stuck”: Applying A Critical Occupational Lens To Examine The Negotiation Of Long-Term Unemployment In Contemporary Socio-Political Contexts, Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich Jan 2016

“Activated, But Stuck”: Applying A Critical Occupational Lens To Examine The Negotiation Of Long-Term Unemployment In Contemporary Socio-Political Contexts, Debbie Rudman, Rebecca Aldrich

Occupational Therapy Publications

Solutions for the problem of long-term unemployment are increasingly shaped by neoliberally-informed logics of activation and austerity. Because the implications of these governing frameworks for everyday life are not well understood, this pilot study applied a critical occupational science perspective to understand how long-term unemployment is negotiated within contemporary North American socio-political contexts. This perspective highlights the implications of policy and employment service re-configurations for the range of activities that constitute everyday life. Methods: Using a collaborative ethnographic community-engaged research approach, we recruited eight people in Canada and the United States who self-identified as experiencing long-term unemployment. We analyzed interviews …