Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of

Unemployed People in Europe

Serge Paugam

How to cite
Paugam S. (2016), Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe,
[Italian Sociological Review, 6 (1), 27-55]
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.13136/isr.v6i1.122

[DOI: 10.13136/isr.v6i1.122]

1. Author information
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socials, Equipe de Recherche sur les
Inégalités Sociales, Centre Maurice Halbwachs, Paris

2. Contact author email address

paugam@ehess.fr

3. Article accepted for publication

November 2015

Additional information about

Italian Sociological Review
can be found at:

About ISR-Editorial Board-Manuscript submission

Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in
Europe1
Serge Paugam*

Corresponding author:
Serge Paugam
E-mail: paugam@ehess.fr

Abstract

Experiencing unemployment, especially when it lasts longer than the legal period
for receiving allowances, threatens the organic participation bond in post-industrial society
as it raises questions, at least partially, about both the material and symbolic recognition
of work and the social protection that stems from employment. The question is whether
or not unemployment, goes together with a breakdown of the other types of bonds.
the lineal bond (between parents and children), the elective participation bond (between
people chosen based on affinities) and the citizenship bond (between individuals united
by a core basis of rights and duties within a political community). If it does, we have
to support the spiral hypothesis, if we look to the second, we are inclined to defend
the compensation hypothesis (the break in the organic participation bond is
compensated by the maintenance, even the strengthening, of the other types of bond).
This article is based on in-depth interviews conducted with unemployed people from
seven European Union countries (France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece,
Romania and Ireland). It contributes to demonstrate that unemployment in a period
of crisis increases the risk of a process of impoverishment and spiralling breaks in
social bonds, but it is also in particular in the Southern countries at the origin of a
process of coping, based on forms of compensation. The lineal bond is in these
countries a basic resource to compensate the break in the organic participation bond.

Keywords: unemployment, social bonds, coping strategies

1 This article is based on a qualitative survey supported by the European Commission

and carried out with the assistance of a team of seven researchers who undertook
semi-directive interviews among unemployed people in their own countries and drew
up an initial summary.
* Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socials, Equipe de Recherche sur les Inégalités
Sociales, Centre Maurice Halbwachs, Paris.
 Italian Sociological Review, 2016, 6, 1, pp. 27 - 55

1. Introduction

The economic crisis that Europe is experiencing is having a harsher effect

in some countries than in others and, within each country, among certain
population groups rather than others. While statistical surveys make it possible
to pinpoint households particularly exposed to poverty and long-term
unemployment (European Commission, 2012, 2013) or the unemployed faced
to poverty and social isolation (Gallie, Paugam, 2000; Gallie, Paugam, Jacobs,
2003; Paugam, 2006), they cannot be readily used to find out how these
households and these unemployed are managing to cope with the economic
misfortunes that the crisis is causing. In many respects, this question, albeit
simple, is a real enigma. The purpose of this article is to try to resolve this
enigma. A qualitative approach makes it possible better to assess the strategies
that are being used to cope with unemployment and poverty, against a
backdrop of unavoidable deprivation, and to find out whether such strategies
are possible and therefore to pinpoint the main factors that explain them.
What do we really mean, however, when we talk about coping strategies?
First of all, we need to examine what the experience of unemployment
means in post-industrial societies, the main features of which are, as we know,
production activity and the importance of work as well as the guarantee,
which varies in different countries, of social protection for workers facing
life’s ups and downs. The compulsory social insurance system and the stable
employment which spread throughout the main developed countries at the
end of the Second World War helped to change the very meaning of
occupational integration. To understand this, we need to look not just at the
relationship with work but also at the relationship with employment shaped by the
protective logic of the welfare state. In other words, occupational integration
does not just mean self-realisation through work, but also an attachment,
beyond the world of work, to the core of basic protection that came out of
the social struggles within what can be called welfare capitalism. The
experience of unemployment, especially when it lasts longer than the statutory
period of benefit, threatens what I suggest to call, following the durkheimian
terminology2, the organic participation bond (Paugam, 2008) with post-industrial
society as the material and symbolic recognition of work and the social protection
stemming from employment may to some extent be called into question.
Unemployed people then face the risk of social disqualification.

2According to the concept of organic solidarity developed by Emile Durkheim in his

1893 thesis entitled The Division of Labour in Society. The concept of organic solidarity is
defined by the complementarity of roles and individuals in the world of work and,
more generally, in the social system.

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

If we look at the theory of social bonds, the experience of unemployment

can be analysed from two contrasting analytical perspectives. According to
this theory, while organic participation bond occupies a basic place in the
system by which individuals are attached to groups and to society overall, it is
not the only bond (See table 1).
Three other types of bonds also need to be taken into account: lineal bond
(between parents and children), elective participation bond (between peers or
persons chosen because of their affinities), and citizenship bond (between
individuals sharing the same basic rights and duties within a political
community). Together with organic participation bond (between complementary
individuals in the working world), there are therefore four bonds through
which individuals are integrated into society. We can define each of them in
terms of the two dimensions of protection and recognition. These bonds take
multiple forms and differ in nature, but together they provide individuals with
both the protection and the recognition that they need to exist in society.
Protection includes all the support that an individual can mobilise to cope
with the ups and downs of life, and recognition includes the social interaction
that motivates individuals by substantiating their existence and the value that
is attached to it by the other or others. The expression ‘count on’ fairly well
summarises what individuals can hope for from their relationships with others
and with institutions in terms of protection, while the expression ‘count for’
expresses the just as crucial expectation of recognition.
Within this analytical framework, the question is whether or not
unemployment, reflecting as it does a breakdown of organic participation
bond, goes together with a breakdown of the other types of bonds. If it does,
we have to support the spiral hypothesis (Paugam, 1995) (unemployment is a
cumulative process of breakdown of the four types of bond); if we look to
the second, we are inclined to defend the compensation hypothesis (the break in
the organic participation bond is compensated by the maintenance, even the
strengthening, of the other types of bond.
As it is often seen as one of the main causes of deteriorating social bonds,
unemployment is a particular concern for social science researchers and in
particular sociologists.

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 Italian Sociological Review, 2016, 6, 1, pp. 27 - 55

Table 1. Definition of the different types of bonds according to the forms of protection and recognition
Types of social bonds Forms of protection Forms of recognition

Lineal bond Counting Counting for one’s

(between parents and on intergenerational parents and one’s
children) solidarity children
Close protection Affective recognition
Elective participation bond Counting on the Counting for elective
(between partners, friends, solidarity of elective acquaintances
selected acquaintances...) acquaintances Affective recognition or
Close protection by similarity
Organic participation bond Stable job Recognition through
(between actors of the Contractualized work and consequent
occupational life) protection social esteem
Citizenship bond Legal protection (civil, Recognition of the
(between members of the political and social sovereign individual
same political community) rights) as per the
principle of equality

It has often been studied as a process through which handicaps are

progressively accumulated. Surveys have placed the stress on worsening
standards of living, and on the decline of social life and marginalisation vis-à-
vis other workers (Bakke, 1940a, 1940b; Lazarsfeld, Jahoda, Zeise, 1933;
Schnapper, 1981; Paugam, Russell, 2000).
But, studying the coping strategies that people use when they are
unemployed is clearly tantamount to accepting, at least in theory, that a
compensation mechanism is possible (Paugam, 2005; Demazière, Arauyo
Guimarães, Hirata, Sugita, 2013). Faced with a more or less permanent
withdrawal from the labour market, are unemployed people able to use their
lineal bond to mobilise resources by calling on potential material as well as
moral and psychological support from their wider family? Can they mobilise
resources from their elective participation bond (networks of elective
relationships (partners, friends, close circles or local communities)? Lastly, do
they always have confidence in their citizenship bond and their countries’
institutions and do they turn to them in the hope that their status as citizens
will provide them with protection and recognition?

2. A qualitative survey

The survey took place in seven European Union Member States (France,
Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Ireland). In each country, we
interviewed people from two types of place: a large town (often the capital of

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

the country) and a small town remote from a major metropolis (Paugam,
2014). We did not attempt to study all the socio-occupational groups, but gave
priority to populations at the greatest risk of combining unemployment and
poverty. We decided on that basis to interview people chiefly from working
class backgrounds (blue and white-collar) coping with unemployment since
the onset of the crisis. This choice was also justified by the assumption that
we would, in this way, have a better chance of being able to study strategies to
cope with unemployment and poverty.
The type of approach that we chose was the in-depth face-to-face
interview. This type of interview is based on the mutual trust between the
interviewer and the interviewee. It has less to do with asking questions than
with getting people to talk; in other words, the interview guide provides a
framework for dialogue on specific points and is not a questionnaire to be
answered). Where necessary, the interviewer may merely offer fresh
encouragement or ask for further details. The idea is that interviewers to some
extent become ‘midwives’ in the sense that they ask interviewees to put
themselves entirely in their hands and overcome any hang-ups that they may
have because they are afraid, fear that they will be badly judged or perceived,
or are keen to conceal anything that may appear to be undesirable or even
deviant behaviour. The interview was preferably held in the interviewee’s
home so that the interviewer could observe housing conditions and standards
of living in general and then use their observations to interpret the
information gathered from the interview. In some cases, the interviewees
preferred to be interviewed elsewhere than their home, often in a public place
or a café. The in-depth interview is a comprehensive interview in the sense
that it involves a sociological interpretation which attaches as much
importance to the facts recounted by interviewees as to the meaning that
interviewees give them and the various rationalisations that they put forward.
Our goal, which we achieved, was to interview at least 15 unemployed
people in each country. The final sample included 111 people. Table 2 below
shows the breakdown by three criteria: gender, age and place.
In each country a more or less equivalent number of men and women
were interviewed, to the extent that the overall sample had an almost equal
breakdown of 55 men and 53 women. We felt that it was important to choose
people from three age-groups: 35 and under (start of working life), 35-50
(mid-working life), 50 and over (end of working life). In total, the sample
included 27 people in the first group, 40 in the second and 41 in the third.
Lastly, we also achieved our goal of having as many people from urban as
from rural backgrounds (68 and 40 respectively).

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Table 2. Breakdown of interviews by basic sample criteria

Country Gender Age Place
M F <35 35<50 50+ Urban Rural Total
DE 7 8 3 8 4 10 5 15
EL 9 10 4 6 9 10 9 19
ES 9 6 2 4 9 10 5 15
FR 8 7 5 8 2 9 6 15
IE 8 9 5 5 7 9 8 17
PT 7 8 4 3 8 10 5 15
RO 8 7 4 6 5 10 5 15
Number 56 55 27 40 44 68 43 111

Several methods were tried out to contact potential interviewees:

snowball sample, personal contacts, public employment agency, public welfare
services, associations assisting the unemployed, sub-sample of a previous
survey (see table 3).

Table 3. Methods used to contact unemployed people

Country ‘Snowball’ Personal Public Public Associations Sub-
contacts employment welfare assisting the sample
agency service unemployed from a
previous
survey
DE X X X
EL X X X
ES X X
FR X X X
IE X
PT X
RO X X X X

Overall, bearing in mind that there is no ideal method, the solution was
often to use a range of methods to contact people and to try to correct, for
each country, any selection bias that may have been introduced.

3. Lineal bond as a basic resource ?

Analysing the strategies that unemployed people in Europe are using to

cope with the crisis makes it necessary to look at all the resources that may be
available to them from the economic, social and institutional environment.
The unemployment benefit system is not the same in the seven countries in
which the interviews took place (Paugam, Gallie, 2004). Eligibility for housing

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

benefit also differs in different countries as well the possibility of extended

welfare cover which may include health and health care. France and Germany
have a social protection system which is much more developed than those of
the other countries. These are also the two countries least affected by the
crisis. Unemployment is much lower in Germany than in France, where the
level of poverty of unemployed people is slightly higher. Despite these
differences, the interviews in the seven countries show that unemployment
has a direct effect on standards of living. Whatever the country,
unemployment is systematically reflected by the need to cut consumption.
None of the unemployed people interviewed had any experience belying this
tendency. The processing of the interviews even became a little monotonous
as everyone, at least on the surface, said the same thing: once any minor
savings – when there were any – had been made, the unemployed interviewees
unanimously said that they had started to cut their budgets for holidays,
leisure, culture, trips to restaurants and purchases of clothes and that they had
then been forced to manage all their expenses, including food and health
expenses, in better ways. These findings also agree overall with the statistical
processing of the longitudinal data collected in the SILC surveys (Guio,
Pomati, 2013).
One way of coping with unemployment and precariousness is to call on
lineal bond . This type of support is possible only if certain conditions are
met. If there is to be family solidarity: 1) people must have and maintain
relations with their families, 2) the family must have resources that it can hand
out or exchange, 3) people have to accept their dependence on their family
and the family has to be willing to help. There is a major difference between
the countries covered by our survey – whether or not independence from the
family is the norm.
What does this norm of independence mean? What are its historic
cultural foundations? The southern European countries tend to have a system
of attachment that may be termed ‘family-based’. The stability of lineal bond
shapes family solidarity and plays a role of overall social regulation. In a
family-based system, individuals have interdependent relations within both
their family of orientation and their family of procreation. They support one
another by abiding by the absolute rule of filial respect for elders and the duty
of unfailing care for children. In such a regime, individual autonomy is
possible only if it is envisaged or negotiated within the family. In countries
such as France or Germany, the norm of independence has another meaning.
The regime of attachment in those countries is different in nature. At least
partial detachment from the family of orientation is considered to be a
prerequisite for social integration, presupposing real participation in the
working world and a quest for genuine organic bond with the actors of

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professional life. This organic participation bond then provide individuals with
a socio-occupational status and regulate the system itself, with the result that it
can then be called an ‘organicist’ regime. In such a regime , independence
from one’s parents is synonymous with successful social integration. It is
therefore sought as such. Being dependent on parents at an age at which it
seems proper not be dependent in view of the social norms in force may bring
about feelings of social failure. The proportion of young people between 25
and 34 living with at least one of their parents is one indicator of the norm of
autonomy (Table 4).

Table 4. Percentage of 25 to 34-year-olds living with at least one parent

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013  2013/2007
DE
Total 12.6 12.9 13.5 13.0 13.7 12.9 13.1 1.03
Unemployed* 8.6 8.6 11.6 10.0 11.5 10.3 10.8 1.25
EL
Total 47.0 47.9 46.3 45.6 47.5 49.2 51.3 1.09
Unemployed* 39.5 38.7 39.4 43.0 49.4 52.6 55.2 1.40
ES
Total 37.3 36.5 35.2 35.7 35.8 37.6 39.3 1.05
Unemployed* 31.6 33.3 33.5 36.3 38.3 41.7 43.9 1.39
FR
Total 10.6 10.7 10.2 10.9 11.4 10.9 9.8 0.92
Unemployed* 15.4 15.8 14.1 17.6 17.3 16.7 15.8 1.02
IE
Total 27.3 21.6 19.1 19.2 21.3 20.2 21.7 0.93
Unemployed* 20.8 22.5 24.5 24.8 27.3 26.0 28.2 1.35
PT
Total 39.9 40.4 40.1 40.1 38.9 40.9 41.5 1.04
Unemployed* 44.7 45.1 43.1 43.1 44.6 49.1 50.5 1.13
RO
Total 38.1 38.5 39.2 41.7 43.8 45.8 46.6 1.22
Unemployed* 42.1 44.2 44.9 43.7 45.2 46.4 46.1 1.09
*and non-working, without students
Source : Eurostat, EU-SILC

This is not to pass judgment on the ability of these individuals to become

independent of their families, or to claim that they cannot be termed
independent adults if they still live with their parents, but simply to make note
of the striking contrasts observed amongst the countries studied.
The proportion of young adults living with at least one parent in 2013
was noticeably lower in France and Germany (9.8 % and 13.1 % respectively)
than in other countries (51.3 % in Greece, 46.6 % in Romania, 41.5 % in
Portugal, 39.3 % in Spain and 21.7 % in Ireland). How have these figures
evolved since 2007, i.e., since one year before the beginning of the crisis,

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

particularly for the unemployed and other non-working individuals in this age
group (excluding students)? The greatest increases were observed in Greece,
Spain and Ireland where there were respectively 1.40, 1.39 and 1.35 times
more unemployed/non-working individuals in the 25 to 34-year-old age
bracket living with at least one of their parents in 2013 than in 2007. Among
these three countries hard hit by the crisis, the increase for all individuals in
this age bracket was much lower, and in Ireland, it was even negative. So it can
be said that in these countries the family served as a particularly significant
buffer during the crisis, particularly vis-à-vis those not in the labour market.

3.1 ‘Everyone has to get on by themselves’: independence as a norm

As expected, the interviews conducted for our survey clearly confirmed
the differences between the familialist regime of the southern European
countries and the organicist regime of France and Germany. The interviews
carried out in France and Germany were very similar in terms of family
solidarity and diverged quite strongly from those carried out in other
countries. The French and German unemployed are clearly more likely to
report that they are unwilling to seek assistance from their families, including
financial assistance. They feel uncomfortable asking for this kind of help as
they view it as a form of failure and social humiliation.
For family solidarity to come into play, one must first have an ongoing
relationship with one’s family. In the French interviews, this condition was
not always fulfilled (3 out of 15). Clearly, bonds are sometimes broken or
there is conflict in the family.
The lineal bond on which family solidarity is based are fragile and indeed,
can break. Even so, the existence of this bond and of being on good terms
with one’s parents or the members of one’s extended family is not in itself
sufficient to bring about family solidarity. Indeed, a number of unemployed
persons mentioned the embarrassment they would feel if they were to ask for
assistance. The expressions they used communicated how deeply they had
internalised the norm of autonomy vis-à-vis one’s family. Being an adult
means not being dependent on one’s family. Asking for help from one’s
family would mean giving up and facing disgrace. The following excerpts
reflect this sentiment:

‘I have my children, so… but I don’t want to bother them either, especially not in
that way. People need to look out for now themselves. Anyway, I still see them a
lot.’ (Man, France, 59 years of age, lives alone, unemployed for 6 years, rural
area).

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‘I’m lucky to have a family, absolutely. But my family isn’t a money faucet, either,
and I’m not their child, they have children, you know what I mean? There are
also limits, you can’t become a burden to your brothers and sisters or your
relatives, it isn’t right, it goes against nature – or even of my child! I’m going to say
now that you have your degree, you’ve studied well, you’re going to take care of your mother!
That’s totally ridiculous!’ (Woman, France, 46 years of age, single, lives alone with
an adult-age child, unemployed for more than 6 months, urban area).

Conforming to this norm of autonomy vis-à-vis the family is clearly a

matter of social honour and was widely mentioned in the interviews. There is
some variation, however, with a bit more leeway in rural areas. With family
nearby, there is more give-and-take about daily life experiences. The form that
family solidarity takes depends largely on this kind of cross-sharing. For the
mechanisms of family solidarity to operate without interfering with the norm
of autonomy, they must be interwoven with a shared sense of living in a quasi-
community.
In Germany, using family solidarity as a strategy happens primarily in
households with children. People who live alone seem to rarely call on this
type of assistance, either because they no longer have contact with their
family, or because their family is unable to help, or because they do not wish
to seek outside help. It is clearly important for some individuals not to
become a burden on their families and friends, to retain a sense of pride, and
to show that they can make it through under their own steam. There is
perhaps also the fear of piling up debts.
When people do ask for financial help, it is usually within the family
(parents and siblings) rather than with friends and, on the whole, even asking
one’s close family is something those surveyed found difficult and unpleasant.
It made them feel that they weren’t able to demonstrate to their parents and
extended family that they were capable of being responsible adults. It is,
however, easier to ask for help when there are children.

‘My family also comes to my rescue, that’s for certain... But I’m someone who really
doesn’t enjoy receiving help from others [...] okay, I do prefer to save up longer for
something that I really want to do or to have, so, yes, my family also buys lots of things for
my child because they realise they are expensive and that if I pay for all of it, it’s really
tough.’ (Woman, Germany, 27 years of age, single with 1 child, unemployed
since 2008, urban area).

So even though many of those surveyed in the sample said they could
count on their local network or their family to make ends meet or to help pay
for special purchases, others refused to accept. There are several possible

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

reasons for refusing: first, the sometimes challenging circumstances of

members of the extended family, such as unemployment and limited
resources. The second reason is the personal position of the individual
interviewed, who in certain cases simply did not wish to be ‘kept’.
For some, family solidarity also takes the form of emotional support.
Simply knowing that help is available is in itself of great help. The decision to
resort to financial assistance from the family thus depends on many factors,
such as the stability of family bonds, the socioeconomic status of the family,
the family view on unemployment, the existence of children and psychological
factors.
In a more general sense, the embarrassment the unemployed feel at
asking for help from one’s family must be understood as the same expression
of a strong normative pressure as it is for anyone likely to experience difficult
times. In reality this pressure reflects the power of the norm of autonomy that
exists both in Germany and in France. In these two countries, more than in
any of the other five in which the survey was conducted, admitting
dependence on one’s family is equivalent to saying one is incapable of living as
an adult. Living apart from one’s family does not mean the absence of bonds,
it simply means one is not dependent on their family to cover daily expenses.
The norm of autonomy has been so strongly internalised that the inability to
conform to it is anxiety-provoking. That is why the unemployed we spoke
with were overwhelmingly in agreement. But what we observed in France and
Germany was much less common in the other countries.

3.2 ‘We’re all in it together’: family solidarity as a principle

In the southern European countries, it is common for the unemployed to
stay with their families until they can get their own home, a model that can be
referred to as long-term familial cohabitation (Van de Velde, 2008). We saw
striking regional differences across these countries.
The level of economic development is an important determinant of the
structure of unemployment, but it also impacts family structures. In the
poorest areas, family solidarism is more developed. Autonomy vis-à-vis the
family increases with the level of economic development, and also with the
level of social protection. When there are limited employment opportunities,
the risk of poverty is higher, and it is essential to maintain relationships with
family members to cope with the difficulties of life (Paugam, 2005). But we
cannot attribute these phenomena solely to constraining factors – otherwise,
why wouldn’t all young unemployed Europeans be living with their parents?
We must take two additional factors into account. First, the tradition of
family solidarity is more widespread in the southern European countries than

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it is in other countries. The obligation of family solidarity falls in particular to

the parents and is reinforced in the household through an extensive division
of labour. In these models, the head of the family is most often the man,
whose primary role is to ensure the financial autonomy of the household by
providing resources earned in his professional occupation, while the woman
devotes herself to the organization of domestic life and the children, even
after they have reached adulthood (the traditional ‘male breadwinner’ model).
However, this model varies across countries. In Portugal, women have made
up over 60 % of the workforce since the early 2000s, compared with 46 % in
Greece and 48 % in Spain3.

“As a rule, in southern European countries, the normative obligation of

prolonged cohabitation applies to both parents and children. Adult children
cannot afford to live independently as a couple until they are assured of a job
or stable employment. So it seems normal for them to stay with their parents,
and they participate fully in household life” (Reyneri, 1992).

The qualitative survey confirmed that the unemployed in southern

Europe look to their extended family for the protections they need. Many
grown children live in their parents’ home, including those of an advanced
age. In certain cases, the entire household may be sustained by a grandfather
or grandmother’s pension. The interviews we conducted in Greece were very
clear on this point. A 55-year-old farmer in difficult straits due to the collapse
of agricultural product sales along with increased expenses and taxes admitted
that he, his non-working wife, and their two children were living on the
pension of their retired parents, who also lived with them.

‘There are plenty of problems, but here in X the jobs haven’t disappeared, so more or less
everyone has something to do. There is invisible aid – we have oil, grapes, the pensions of
our parents who live with us, it’s not like in Athens, where a couple that has lost their
jobs is done for.’ (Man, Greece, 55 years of age, married with 2 children, non-
working partner).

‘I have my parents who receive a € 700 pension, and by scrimping, together

we manage. My sister is also at home, but she has been blind since she had an accident ten
years ago. We tried to get her a disability pension, but still haven’t been able to, and she
owes taxes, too. How can you pay when you have health problems? We get by with my

3 In Romania and Ireland, this rate is also nearly 60% and for the 25-54 age bracket,
the rates averaged 74% in Portugal, 67% in Romania, 65% in Ireland, 55% in Greece
and 63% in Spain during the period studied.

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

parents’ retirement and whatever money I manage to make. But if I run into trouble we’re
all sunk. There’s no way out (Man, Greece, 40 years of age, farmer, single, rural
area).

The pensions received by people over 60 represent a larger share of the

income in the households of the poor and unemployed in Spain and Portugal
than in France and Germany, but it is even higher in Greece, at times
representing the most significant source of income (European Commission,
2012, source SILC) It is therefore clear that in the southern European
countries, and particularly in Greece, there is still a tendency for resources to
be shared in households where several generations live together. This
represents a sort of family solidarism in the face of poverty.
Only two unemployed persons we interviewed in Spain were under 35,
the age bracket at which support from the family is greatest. Both cases dealt
with young people who felt that their aspirations had been stymied by the
crisis. They suffered a profound feeling of frustration, particularly since their
parents were also directly or indirectly affected by unemployment. This
prolonged situation is seen as a very negative experience since it delays the
process of setting out on one’s own. For example, young people in romantic
relationships cannot begin a life together. Yet in both instances, the family’s
support was essential.

‘My grandmother, yes. She lives in San Sebastian and she does give us, like, three hundred
(euros) per month or, for example, to help me pay hairdressing school tuition… I always
can rely on family, or should be able to.’ (Woman, Spain, 25 years of age,
single with no children, unemployed since 2009, urban area).

The norm of familialist solidarity does not only pertain to youth. It is also
found with older people, such as this 53-year-old woman who has been
unemployed for several years and works illegally in the informal economy.

‘Well, there’s always someone who gives you a hand (…) For everything, multiple
things, whether it is having dinner, then you are not charged, everyone pays yours, which is
also a way of helping, or ‘I bought something’, and they give you a Tupperware, so, things
like that...’ (Woman, Spain, 53 years of age, lives alone, long-term unemployed
and undeclared work, urban area).

Note, however, that family solidarity has its challenges and is subject to
strain. In order to benefit from extended assistance from one’s family, one
must have parents who are well-situated enough to respond to those needs.
But in a crisis context, the social strata that were once insulated from poverty

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and were in a position to help out their unemployed children can suddenly
find themselves in dire financial straits. Under these conditions,
intergenerational redistribution is no longer a given. This does not necessarily
mean that the parent-child relationship is broken, but that family solidarity is
not robust enough to effectively avoid poverty (Laparra et al., 2012).
The familialist model of the southern countries has traditionally been
based on the pivotal role of the ‘male breadwinner’, who through his stable
position in the working world was able to uphold the standard of living for his
wife and family, including his grown children and even his dependent parents.
The crisis has often had the immediate effect of disturbing this balance. In
many cases, it is the male breadwinner who has lost his job and so himself has
become dependent on his family.

‘My children, I want them to live their lives... I don’t want... no, no. I don’t like it. I just
don’t like to disturb anybody, not even ‘name of friend with whom he lives’ (Man, Spain,
57 years of age, separated, due to unemployment, 2 children, urban area).

This example is highly significant. It shows that family solidarity is much

easier to accept when it is the child, even an older child, who asks for help,
while it reaches its limit in the other direction, i.e., when the person requiring
help is the parent. This is not because children don’t care about their parents,
but rather because parents are uncomfortable becoming dependent on their
adult children, particularly when they are still of working age. Asking for help
under these circumstances goes against the norm whereby those who are
established in the working world should help those who are not yet steady.
The experience of unemployment for these individuals causes suffering with
an even deeper meaning, since it means they cannot live up to the norm of
familialist solidarity.
In the interviews conducted in Portugal as well, it also became clear that
the family formed the bedrock of material and emotional solidarity (Loison,
2006). In the excerpts below, the pre-eminence of the concept of family
solidarism is clear:

‘And I had to tell my mother ‘For 2 or 3 weeks I won’t have money to eat... ‘, and she ‘Oh,
don’t worry, we’ll work something out’...’ (Woman, Portugal, 26 years of age, couple
with children, unemployed more than 1 year, working partner, urban area).

‘I’ll tell you, for example, the meat we eat is mostly paid for by my mother-in-law. We go to
the butcher, we order it, my mother-in-law goes there, pays, we don’t even know how much it
is (Man, Portugal, 59 years of age, couple with children, unemployed for more
than 2 years, working partner, urban area).

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

Parents perceive assistance to their children as a moral duty, even when

these children have become adults, for example when adult children are still at
home with their parents. When children work and have their own budget but
continue to live in their parents’ home, they can undertake certain expenses,
such as the rent or utilities. When they set up their own households, they
rarely contribute to their parents’ expenses. And when the parents are in need,
they disguise their problems and are reluctant to accept relief from their
children, as we see in the following examples:

‘He [the son] wanted to [contribute financially]; I told him, ‘If I need it, I’ll ask you ‘. So, I
didn’t want him to. (…) [Question: It could be out of necessity, it was not in the sense
that…]… Yes, I also told him that ‘If I need it, I’ll tell you’, but, for now, I still have
some money in the bank, I’ll keep trying to find some odd jobs, I’m holding up.’ (Woman,
Portugal, 54 years of age, single-parent family, unemployed for more than 2
years, urban area).

‘I know that they are not satisfied with the situation that I have, but I also don’t want to
have..., I don’t want to be a ... a charity case for my daughters, is out of the question; I’d
rather walk around with 20 cents in my wallet, because I don’t want that, I want to get a
job and...’ (Woman, Portugal, 62 years of age, lives alone, unemployed more
than 1 year, rural area).

While in the interviews conducted in Portugal, the unemployed stated

that it was possible to receive assistance from their family members, it is not
without challenges that unemployed individuals in difficulty return to the
home of their parents, when previously they were employed and had
independent lives. Indeed, this entails relearning how to live together. The
obvious advantage is the reduction in housing costs, but the trade-off is
resignation to the cohabitation of multiple economic units in one household
and the potential of incompatible lifestyles. Several excerpts from the
interview mention the issues that arose from this involuntary cohabitation.

‘I am not independent, I am not autonomous; if I think about it coldly, I am not..., I have

to live.... basically, with others’ support’ (Woman, Portugal, 47 years of age, couple
with children, unemployed for more than 2 years, working partner, urban
area).

Finally, we note how familial solidarity is firmly rooted in local networks.

The unemployed we spoke with rarely lived isolated from their family. Most
of the time, there was at least one member of the extended family they could
call upon: a parent, brother, or sister, sometimes cousin. The unemployed

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man we just mentioned who lives with and cares for his parents also has a
brother in his immediate circle. He acknowledges that both his brother and
sister-in-law see him as a member of their family.
While family solidarity in the southern European countries plays an
important role in reducing the risk that unemployment will lead to poverty,
this does not imply that the aid provided in northern countries in the name of
national solidarity leads to a weakening of family support. This must be seen
above all as the effect of a social system (Wolff, Attias-Donfur, 2007; Börsch-
Supan, Brandt, Litwin, Weber, 2013). When a large segment of the population
is equally disadvantaged, family solidarity is the logical collective response
needed to stave off poverty. Reciprocal exchanges serve an important
purpose. Each individual gives and reaches out, since everyone else is doing
the same in order to make it through hard times. This is why in areas with
severe unemployment and poverty, there is a greater likelihood of finding
long-term familial solidarity based on a reciprocity which has been imposed by
the need to confront hardship collectively4. While family solidarity may not
have entirely disappeared in the most economically developed regions, it
nevertheless no longer serves this vital function. The individual desire for
autonomy and the reduced homogeneity of families leads overall to a more
flexible, more informal, and also more fragile form of family solidarity. When
the exchanges within the family become strongly skewed in one direction, they
may prevent recipients from giving and from reaching out in their turn, which
ultimately can only serve to disqualify them.

4. Elective participation bond: do it help to cope with unemployment

and poverty?

As we have seen, lineal bond may provide help in coping with the crisis.
Is the same true of elective participation bond? This bond is forged by
socialisation outside the family during which individuals come into contact
with other individuals whom they get to know in various groups and
organisations. This socialisation takes place in many different places: the
neighbourhood, groups, circles of friends, local communities, religious, sports
and cultural organisations, etc. As part of their social learning, individuals are
both constrained by the need to be integrated, but are at the same time
independent in so far as they are free to build their own network of belonging
within which they can establish their personalities in other people’s eyes.

4 This observation draws on Mauss’s theory on gift giving, which is particularly salient
in the analysis of familial solidarity. (On this point, see also: Paugam, Zoyem, 1997).

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

Elective participation bond needs in practice to be differentiated from the

other social bonds because of their specific nature, i.e. the fact that they are
elective, giving individuals a real freedom to forge interpersonal relationships
in accordance with their own wishes, aspirations and emotional values. These
bonds include various kinds of voluntary attachment. Bonds defined in this
way entirely encompass the notion of friendship. Friendship is not really
institutionalised. It can be publicly suggested and encouraged when it is
associated, for instance, with the notion of fraternity, but it is not strictly
regulated in any way. It is socially accepted and valued. It is seen as
disinterested and detached from the social contingencies that characterise the
other kinds of social interaction. The question that may be asked is whether or
not networks of friends and, more generally, the social interaction that is
covered by elective participation bonds offer support for unemployed people
attempting to cope with the crisis.
The negative impact of unemployment on the social life is well known. In
the early 1930s during a full-scale economic recession, the survey conducted
by Lazarsfeld and his team in Austria at Marienthal described an Unemployed
Community (Lazarfeld, Jahoda, Zeise, 1933). The authors of this survey invite
us to go into this small town, and to discover for ourselves the melancholy
indifference of its more or less abandoned places: ‘People are living here who
have become accustomed to owning less, doing less and expecting less than
they had considered essential to life in earlier days’. While this industrial town
had in the past had a very lively cultural life, with its theatre, sports clubs,
carnival, etc., it has become dull and inert. Work at the factory was central to
social life in the sense that it provided workers not just with work and wages,
but also gave them a raison d’être, a feeling of usefulness and social
recognition. The interviewers tell how despondent they feel about the decline
in social life In general, the community as a whole has become weary. The
decline in activity has impacted on the life of various institutions (the
municipal library, leisure clubs, the theatre, etc.) and is gradually eating away at
the private lives of these unemployed people.
This survey has become an essential reference whenever the social
isolation of unemployed people is being examined. We know from experience
that unemployment tends to make social relations less intense, especially
within associations. Cultural clubs, sports clubs and charitable associations all
declined significantly from the time at which the people of this town suffered
the closure of its main factory.
In the 1990s, analyses of the Community Household Panel showed that
unemployment always had an adverse effect on the life of associations in the
main industrialised countries (Paugam, Russell, 2000). The survey among
unemployed Moulinex workers in Normandy two years after their mass

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redundancy in the early 2000s also bears out the overall trend towards a
weakening of social bonds, especially elective participation bond (Roupnel-
Fuentes, 2011). What conclusion can we reach on this issue from our survey
interviews?
The interviews confirm that one of the immediate effects of
unemployment is to reduce social life. That does not mean that friends
disappear from one day to the next and that unemployed people all end up
experiencing a social vacuum. Friends may continue to play a valuable part in
warding off day-to-day loneliness. Many unemployed people told us that they
had valuable relationships with friends on whom they could still rely. More or
less generally, however, whatever the country in question, our unemployed
people stressed that the intensity of their social life had been drastically
reduced.
This is not to say that friends vanish overnight and that the unemployed
all end up facing a social vacuum. Friends may remain supportive. Many
unemployed individuals told us that they had enduring friendships on which
they could still rely. But in all of the countries we looked at, the unemployed
nearly universally observed a dramatic ebb in their social life. This can be
explained both the high cost of maintaining social relationships (drinks,
rounds at the pub) and by feeling stigmatised.

‘…I went as far as the pub and looked in the window, I saw them, but I didn’t have a
[expletive] fiver to buy the first pint, so I looked in and I knew if I got in, If I went in, you
know it would happen, you know, so I drove all the way in, I got in went to the pub and
looked in, I seen everybody and I went [expletive] home.’ (Man, Ireland, 50 years of
age, couple, unemployed since 2008, unemployed spouse, urban area).

Some look for strategies which will not only prevent them from slipping
into relationships of dependence toward their acquaintances (or families), but
also allow them to withhold the real reason for passing up certain activities:

‘So I often say I don’t feel like it. But it isn’t true that I don’t feel like it, it’s just that I
don’t have the money’ (Woman, Germany, 42 years of age, single with 1 child,
unemployed since 2012, urban area).

‘Before, we mingled with people who both made a good living, but now we’ve distanced
ourselves a bit. Not because we don’t like them or because they splash their money around,
but because we can’t keep up with them. Impromptu things like going out to dinner or seeing
a show. You cannot do it, you always have to back out and say something like ‘No, we
can’t do it’. And after a while it becomes uncomfortable and we kind of fall out

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

of those circles.’ (Woman, Germany, 52 years of age, couple, with children,

working partner, unemployed since 2010, rural area).

However, the subject of costs does not generally seem taboo since friends
who may or may not be working also face challenges that can easily be
explained by the crisis and austerity policies.

‘But then again most of our friends would be in pretty much the same position there’s nobody
really going out for extravagant nights out because even people who are still working at this
stage they’re struggling with all the austerity measures.’ (Man, Ireland, 55 years of age,
married, 2 children, unemployed since 2010, disabled partner, rural area).

The status of being unemployed is also an issue. Some of the unemployed

have described in great detail the increasing isolation they have experienced.
This arises in part from the contempt-tinged glances they often receive, but
also from the tendency of the unemployed to avoid contact with others for
fear of rejection or belittlement. This behaviour appears more frequently to be
the act of withdrawing than of being excluded by others.

‘I was making good money at my first company, I mean really good, and had a lot of friends,
it’s true, and then when things went south, many of them disappeared. Your status
changes and you find yourself alone.’ (Man, France, 45 years of age, divorced,
4 children, unemployed for more than 2 years, urban area).

In the southern European countries, which have had massive

unemployment for several years, the economic crisis also seems to have
profoundly affected the elective participation bond. As we have seen, without
money, the ability to go out, enjoy entertainment and meet friends in
restaurants and cafes is sharply curtailed. But while it’s almost a given that the
time spent socialising dissipates, the unemployed distinguish between true
friends on whom they can rely, who remain friends, and the rest, with whom
they only had superficial relationships which were sorely tested and ultimately
faded. This scenario plays out in Portugal, Spain, Greece, and even in
Romania.

‘It’s different now – some [friends] have become closer and others have disappeared. The
crisis really caused havoc. Casual acquaintances who just wanted to meet up for a drink
have disappeared… Now that you have no money, you don’t go out. People nearby who you
like come around to visit. A few superficial relationships are eliminated. But you become
even closer to your true friends. So you separate the wheat from the chaff.’
(Woman, Greece, 51 years of age, single mother, urban area).

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Withdrawal from the working world also results in an erosion of social

relationships, since the opportunity to meet friends from work both inside and
outside the workplace is lost. Only one interviewee saw her inability to find
employment as having a positive impact on her social relationships.

‘When I was raising [my son] and looking after my nieces, my world got very small. It was
mostly family, maybe one or two outside friends. But when I went to VTOS [training
programme], I made some fantastic friends who were in exactly the same boat as me and,
actually, they’re coming to my house tonight just for a chat. But I made fantastic friends and
all in the same boat and we still - we’re keeping in contact.’ (Woman, Ireland, 59 years
of age, single with no children, unemployed since 2008, rural area).

Ultimately, the lessons of Marienthal are again borne out. Elective

participation bond is weakened when people are unemployed. While very
close bonds of friendship continue, especially in the southern European
countries where unemployed people continue overall to be more integrated
into local networks of solidarity often linked to the family, a massive reduction
in standards of living means, in all the countries, that opportunities to socialise
become much fewer and further between.

5. Distrust of institutions: the inequal strenght of the citizenship bond

The citizenship bond is based on the principle of belonging to a nation.

In principle, the nation recognises that its members have rights and duties and
gives them the status of full citizens. In democratic societies, citizens are equal
before the law, which does not mean that there are no economic or social
inequalities but that efforts are to be made within the nation to ensure that all
citizens are treated in the same way and together form a body having a
common identity and shared values. It is normal nowadays to differentiate
between civil rights that protect individuals in the exercise of their
fundamental freedoms, in particular against encroachments by the State that
are deemed unlawful, political rights which enable them to participate in
public life, and social rights which provide them with a degree of protection
against the ups and downs of life. This extension of individual fundamental
rights enshrines the universal principle of equality and the role devolved to
individual citizens who are considered ‘automatically’ to belong, over and
above their particular social status, to the political community.
Citizens’ trust in their institutions is a prerequisite for the exercise of
democracy and the respect of principles of civility in the public arena. Several

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

indicators nevertheless seem to be showing that this feeling of trust is

gradually being eroded in the collective mind.
This can be seen in all the European Union’s Member States (see Table
5). Europeans’ trust in the European Union fell from 57% in September 2007
to 31% in September 2013. Europeans’ trust in their national parliaments fell
from 43% to 26% over the same period. The same trend can also be seen in
Europeans’ trust in their national governments. It is interesting, however, that
unemployed people’s trust in these same institutions, whatever the period, has
been even lower and has fallen to a greater extent. Unemployed people’s trust
in the European Union was 52% in 2007 and 23% in 2013, i.e. 2.3 times lower
in comparison with 1.8 times lower among all the people polled.

Table 5. Trust in the European Union, national parliaments and national governments from 2007
to 2013 in all EU Member States among all the people polled and among unemployed people
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013  2007/2013
European
Union
All 57 50 47 42 41 31 31 1.8
Unemployed 52 47 37 37 36 25 23 2.3
National
Parliament
All 43 34 32 31 33 28 26 1.6
Unemployed 33 26 21 22 21 11 16 2.1
National
Government
All 41 32 32 29 32 28 25 1.6
Unemployed 31 23 22 20 22 16 14 2.2
Source: Eurobarometers (spring of each year). Question: For each the following institutions, can you
tell me whether you tend to trust it or tend not to trust it?

Similarly, unemployed people’s trust in their national parliaments fell

from 33% in 2007 to 16% in 2013, i.e. 2.1 times lower in comparison with 1.6
times lower among all the people polled. Lastly, unemployed people’s trust in
their national governments fell from 31% to 14% over the period, i.e. 2.2
times lower in comparison with 1.6 times lower among all the people polled.
One way of coping with unemployment may be to exercise one’s rights
and turn to the institutions to find a job. In many interviews, the unemployed
interviewees said that the institutions in their countries left them feeling
helpless. The crisis has worsened this lack of trust. There were nevertheless
two different attitudes. The first, more qualified, was to criticise some
institutions more than others and to look for solutions; the second, where
institutions were felt to be in total collapse, was much more radical.

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In many of the interviews, the unemployed expressed their

disillusionment with their country’s institutions, and the crisis has only
exacerbated their distrust. Nevertheless, we can distinguish between two
different attitudes. The first involves a nuanced critique of national institutions
which differentiates amongst them and seeks solutions, while the second is far
more radical, suggesting that the institution are systematically disintegrating.
A nuanced confidence was expressed in three countries: France,
Germany and Ireland. In France, the unemployed interviewees shifted
between bitterness and protest. The view of a France in decline was voiced in
the interviews. At times, various forms of racism against foreigners was mixed
in to this position. Above all, the interviewees were aware of the
powerlessness of those in government to reverse the current situation. As we
saw, the view toward the employment centers was emblematic of this
disillusionment. Most of the unemployed felt sacrificed and abandoned by
their country’s institutions.

‘I think it’s a basic mistake to have trust in companies. Companies only have one goal and
that’s to make a profit. The common good is not one of their goals. And this is really a
problem today, because we give power to the banks, to companies and to lobbyists, and
politics is stuck in between, and that is the mess we’re in today. The only thing we have left
of value is the schools, but I think they are also in very bad shape, because there as well…’
(Woman, France, 44 years of age, single, no children, graphic designer,
unemployed for less than 6 months, urban area).

But while there was concern among those we interviewed in France, the
criticism of institutions was not systematic. In spite of everything, many
unemployed French people still recognize that some public services continue
to function well. The health system, for example, is viewed positively overall.
In short, while there is real distrust of institutions, it is the pervasive sense of
decline that the crisis situation has exacerbated.
Neither is there widespread distrust toward institutions among the
German unemployed. As we saw earlier, while unemployed Germans may
criticize the functioning of Job Centers, they recognize that employment
services for the recently unemployed are now noticeably more welcoming and
efficient. While unemployed Germans’ comments on their institutions may
generally seem fairly nuanced, it is in large part because the impact of the crisis
on their economic and social situation has seemed milder. However, the issue
of low wages is often mentioned.

‘Germany is not getting sorted out. I don’t think it is. Who is doing well in Germany? The
people working for peanuts? No one is doing well, having to work 8 hours a day and only

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

bringing home € 600, you can’t call that “doing fine”’. (Man, Germany, 53 years of
age, single with 1 child, unemployed since 2007, urban area).

In Ireland, successive governments were judged particularly severely. The

main criticism shared by the people we met was how the measures
implemented hurt those who already had so little, and the fact that the
justification for this suffering did not seem valid. This criticism was also
accompanied by the fact that the politicians did not comprehend the reality of
people with low incomes and, even worse, they didn’t care because the only
thing that mattered to them was their own interests.
The criticism of successive governments also led to a judgment of
Europe’s role in the eruption of the crisis, particularly because of the control
of the Troika on Irish politics. For some, Europe is partly responsible since it
provided easy access to credit, which led to the abuses that occurred in
Ireland. This description of events is presented widely in the Irish media.
Politicians are also accused of favoring the expectations of Europe over those
of their fellow citizens. A number of people lamented the many obligations to
Europe, which is seen as a creditor, and this was also expressed as a loss of
sovereignty.

‘I think an awful lot went wrong with this country when the government decided that they
needed to look good in Europe rather than look good to their own population I suppose.’
(Woman, Ireland, 32 years of age, single, 3 children, unemployed since 2012,
rural area).

‘Some of the European things that come in are good, with the farmers, grants for farmers
and things like that but, it seems like we have given control away from Ireland, they have
borrowed all this money and then like it’s just getting ridiculous, like if we also if we had
maybe our own currency again like we used to have probably would be better, because
England seem to be doing better and their own currency and they don’t have as much
European control over them.’ (Woman, Ireland, 22 years of age, single with no
children, lives with her parents, unemployed since 2012, rural area).

Nevertheless, the deep distrust felt toward the Irish political class and to a
lesser extent toward the European institutions, did not translate into
democratic disengagement.

‘I do vote, but what’s the point? Do you know what I mean? I do vote. I mean, a vote…
I’m very proud of voting, because a vote is your chance to voice your opinion, but I mean,
there’s no this group or this group, they’re all just the same.’ (Man, Ireland, 48 years of

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age, married, no children, spouse employed, unemployed since 2011, urban

area).

But the disillusionment seems even more acute in the southern European
countries. The following excerpts portray the climate in Greece and in
Portugal:

‘I’ve stopped listening to the commentators. I’ve stopped worrying about politics. It
just tells me that it’s every man for himself in life.’ (Woman, Greece, 43 years
of age, married, 1 child, working partner).

‘We don’t trust the politicians anymore, because they have been a total disappointment. We
can’t believe a thing they say anymore. [....] There is also this downgrading of education by
the government and it forces us to dig our hands into our pockets to pay for extra classes, you
know, but meanwhile we pay our taxes and are supposed to have an education system, but
this current downgrading of education is very disappointing...The parties have taken over the
State, and we don’t see any difference. The State has even become our predator.’
(Man, Greece, 55 years of age, married with 2 children, non-working partner).

‘My country is over, my country has no hope for me. Neither to me, nor to my wife, nor even
to my son or my son-in-law! My country, simply died. My country, if it continues to be
ruled by these people, by the idea of the people who are now governing, my country will die
soon’ (Woman, Portugal, 29 years of age, single-parent family, unemployed for
more than 2 years, rural area).

The distrust of institutions was also the theme of many interviews in

Spain where the unemployed people have a tendency to shift responsibility for
the crisis to foreigners, who they accuse of taking jobs away from native-born
Spaniards. In reality, the persons we spoke with sought to compensate for the
failings of the State and the policies carried out in the sphere of their family
relationships, and this led them to defend a local ‘we’ that stood in opposition
to the national institutions and, more generally, to the ruling political class.
Hopes for upward social mobility have been destroyed. Under these
conditions, frustration is at a peak. Ultimately, integration itself is under threat.
Overall, the decreasing trust in the national institutions during the crisis is the
expression of the weakness of the European unemployed citizenship bond.

6. Conclusion

The qualitative survey of a sample of 111 unemployed people, distributed

in a balanced and reasoned way between seven EU Member States, does not

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

just have the advantage that it fleshes out a quantitative approach. It

supplements the statistical results largely because it makes it possible to
understand experiences of unemployment in a recession. Asking unemployed
people about the steps they are taking and the reasons why they are taking
these steps helps to provide a more detailed level of analysis and
understanding. It was in this spirit that this survey was drawn up.
The question that we tried to answer is whether the process at play in the
coping strategies used by unemployed people is a spiral of precariousness or
whether, in contrast, it involves forms of compensation. Unemployment
represents a breakdown of bond with the working world – which, in
conceptual terms, corresponds to a breakdown of organic participation bond.
Does this breakdown bring about others? Does it affect family relationships –
lineal bond – social relationships with friends – elective participation bond –
and relations with public institutions – citizenship bond? In other words, are
these various types of bond, that go together with organic participation bond,
eroded because of an overall process of social disqualification or are they, in
contrast, vital resources for coping with unemployment?
In order to answer this question, we looked successively at the resources
given of three types do social bonds: the lineal bond, the elective participation
bond and the citizenship bond.
Calling on family solidarity does not just depend on the resources
available in an unemployed person’s family, but also on the system of norms
current in the country in question. One of the most striking findings is that
there was a very clear contrast between the general attitude of the unemployed
French and German interviewees who were embarrassed to ask for this type
of help and the attitude of unemployed people in the southern European
countries for whom it was normal and legitimate to turn as a priority to family
members in cases of need, even though this kind of dependence may be
perceived as a constraint. The norm of independence is the only way of
explaining this difference. In Germany and France, the unemployed
interviewees considered themselves primarily as independent people who were
not at all keen to become dependent in any permanent way on their families.
That did not necessarily mean that they had bad relationships with their
parents or other family members, but that they had internalised this norm of
independence which was, for them, a question of social honour.
In the southern European countries, the system of attachment – in the
sense of social bonds – is family-based. This system is regulated by the hold
that lineal bond has over other types of bonds. It is more widespread in
regions where industrial development is low, in rural areas where the economy
is still largely based on small relatively self-contained production units or on a
geographically limited sector. It may also continue, however, in more

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 Italian Sociological Review, 2016, 6, 1, pp. 27 - 55

developed regions by providing a family-based foundation for the capitalism

of small entrepreneurs showing solidarity with one another. This system goes
together with major social inequalities which may not be strongly fought. They
are in some ways ‘naturalised’. Poverty is part of the social system, poor
people accept their circumstances and the circumstances of their families as
fate, and something that they cannot do anything about. Survival is then
sought as a priority within the family network, which is the key entity of
integration. We saw the extent to which this principle of family solidarity is
the absolute norm in Spain, Portugal and Greece. Many of the unemployed
interviewees had returned to live with their parents. Some even accepted that
they were surviving because of the retirement or disability pensions of their
father or mother. While, in practice, they justified this approach by saying that
deprivation had forced them into it, they also felt that there was reciprocity
within the family unit because their presence or the assistance that they gave
provided valuable help for their ageing parents.
While, as we have seen, family solidarity takes different forms, there
appear to be few differences as regards relations with friends. In all the
counties, the unemployed interviewees stressed that their network of friends
had got smaller. Only ‘true’ friends remain and the others disappear. This is a
constant in studies of unemployment right from Paul Lazarsfeld’s survey in
Marienthal in the 1930s. The lack of work affects the community overall.
Social exchanges decline. The home becomes the focus. In the southern
European countries and in Ireland, survival strategies are becoming primarily
family-based.
Lastly, while a loss of trust in the institutions of their countries was a
clear tendency among all the interviewees, it has reached very high
proportions in the southern European countries. All institutions without
exception were slammed and there was massive disillusionment about the
country. In these circumstances, there is obviously little public-spiritedness.
Several unemployed people stressed that the politicians in their countries were
often corrupt and that the public institutions in general were being used to
satisfy individual or sectoral interests, including in the health field, which they
considered to be a scandal. The family-based system encourages very strong
family solidarity to cope with poverty, which remains massive because the
labour market has little to offer in the way of general protection and paves the
way for an informal economy on the fringes of the minimum wage, with the
result that institutions no longer offer any guarantee of the common good. In
Germany, France and Ireland, criticisms were not as hard-hitting and focused
on some rather than other institutions, in particular the employment agency.
In Ireland, the unemployed interviewees continued to be patriotic about their

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Social Bonds and Coping Strategies of Unemployed People in Europe

country, and in Germany and France they knew how much they owed to the
education and health systems.
Overall, the coping strategies of the unemployed are strongly different in
the European southern countries comparatively to France and Germany. If
the lineal bond is in Spain, Portugal and Greece a basic resource to compensate
the break in the organic participation bond, is because this type of bond plays a
regulative function in the whole society. While an integrating bond attaches
individuals to groups, a regulating bond has an additional function consisting
of producing a set of rules and norms the influence of which modifies the
initial normative conception of the other types of social bonds within a given
regime. The regulating bond, thus defined, generates values and principles of
moral education likely to permeate the rest of society. If we consider that the
function of an attachment regime is to produce overall normative coherence
that enables individuals and groups, beyond differentiation and their potential
rivalry, to form a society together, we can identify a specific attachment
regime for the European southern countries as a familialist regime. This is the
reason why the unemployed from these countries find more easily in the lineal
bond a basic resource to cope with their economic and occupational
difficulties. In France and Germany, the regulating bond is the organic
participation bond. The regime is not ‘familialist’ but ‘organicist’. In this
regime, the system of social protection is quite advanced along the path of
decomodification but remains fragmented into a myriad of separate sub-
systems, thereby expressing a logic of statutory distinction and categorical
claims with regard to access to specific rights and to defence of previously
gained benefits. Is the reason why the Unemployed in France and Germany
are more likely to research coping strategies in using first the resources given
by the local or national institutions which are specialized in the protection of
the unemployed.

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Acknowledgements

I should like to thank Camila Giorgetti (France), Georges Gloukoviezof

(Ireland), Isabel Guerra (Portugal), Miguel Laparra (Spain), Despina
Papadopoulos (Greece), Ingrid Tucci (Germany) and Ionela Vlase (Romania)
for the wealth of material they collected in the field. Gloukoviezof (Ireland),
Isabel Guerra (Portugal), Miguel Laparra (Spain), Despina Papadopoulos
(Greece), Ingrid Tucci (Germany) and Ionela Vlase (Romania) for the wealth
of material they collected in the field.

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