Affiliations: Saint Louis University, Department of Occupational
Science and Occupational Therapy, St. Louis, MO, USA | University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Division of
Occupational Science, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Rebecca M. Aldrich, Department of
Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Doisy College of Health
Sciences, 3437 Caroline St., St. Louis, MO 63104, USA. Tel.: +1 314 977 8577;
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: This paper presents daily routine as a justice-related
concern for unemployed people, based on an ethnographic study of discouraged
workers. PARTICIPANTS: Four women and one man who wanted to work but had
ceased searching for jobs, and 25 community members whose jobs served the
unemployed community, participated in the study. METHODS: Ethnographic methodology – including participant
observation, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, and document reviews
– and the Occupational Questionnaire were used to gather data for 10
months in a rural North Carolina town. Data analysis included open and focused
coding via the Atlas.ti software as well as participant review of findings and
writings. RESULTS: Routines need to be seen as negotiated, resource-driven
products of experience rather than automatic structures for daily living.
Scholars and practitioners must acknowledge that the presence or absence of
routine not only relates to resource use but also influences unemployed
people's occupational possibilities. CONCLUSIONS: To address unjust expectations about unemployed
people's occupational possibilities, scholars must examine the uncertain,
negotiated nature of daily routine and its function as a foundation for
occupational engagement. Thus, it may be helpful to view routine as both a
prerequisite of occupation and a way that existing occupations are
organized.
Keywords: Unemployment, occupational justice, time use
