A burgeoning literature on white-collar unemployment and job searching has sought over the past two decades to explain why white-collar workers embrace neoliberal labor market restructuring, and why they often blame themselves for the failure of labor markets to provide stable, secure employment. Recent work, especially Sharone, has shown how neoliberal ideology is rooted in the details of American labor market institutions. More recently, however, U.S. employment relations have undergone a reconfiguration, punctuated by the Great Recession, raising new questions about self-blame and system-blame among white-collar job seekers. In this article, the authors draw on a unique data set of 43 white-collar job seekers interviewed in 2012 and 2013 and argue that, in the post-Great Recession period, what Sharone calls the chemistry game is now experienced as unwinnable, unplayable, and rigged. As a result, the authors find white-collar job seekers questioning neoliberalism in important ways and largely blaming structural factors—especially what they perceive as employers’ betrayal of the social contract—for negative labor market outcomes. The anger, disillusionment, and sense of betrayal among white-collar workers that the authors find in the post-Great Recession labor market, the authors suggest, has implications for Burawoy’s influential theory of employment games as well as relevance for the widespread decline in trust in American institutions.

中文翻译：

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失业：大萧条后寻找工作的白领

在过去的二十年里，关于白领失业和求职的新兴文献试图解释为什么白领工人接受新自由主义劳动力市场重组，以及为什么他们经常将劳动力市场未能提供稳定、安全的就业归咎于自己。最近的工作，尤其是沙龙，表明新自由主义意识形态如何植根于美国劳动力市场制度的细节。然而，最近美国的雇佣关系经历了重新配置，并被大衰退打断，在白领求职者中引发了关于自责和制度责任的新问题。在本文中，作者利用了 2012 年和 2013 年采访的 43 名白领求职者的独特数据集，并认为，在后大萧条时期，Sharone 所说的化学游戏现在被体验为无法获胜、无法玩和被操纵。结果，作者发现白领求职者以重要的方式质疑新自由主义，并且主要将负面的劳动力市场结果归咎于结构性因素——尤其是他们认为雇主背叛社会契约的因素。作者认为，在大萧条后劳动力市场中发现的白领工人的愤怒、幻灭和背叛感，对 Burawoy 有影响力的就业游戏理论以及信任度普遍下降的相关性具有影响在美国机构。作者发现白领求职者以重要的方式质疑新自由主义，并且主要将负面的劳动力市场结果归咎于结构性因素——尤其是他们认为雇主背叛社会契约的因素。作者认为，在大萧条后劳动力市场中发现的白领工人的愤怒、幻灭和背叛感，对 Burawoy 有影响力的就业游戏理论以及信任度普遍下降的相关性具有影响在美国机构。作者发现白领求职者以重要的方式质疑新自由主义，并且主要将负面的劳动力市场结果归咎于结构性因素——尤其是他们认为雇主背叛社会契约的因素。作者认为，在大萧条后劳动力市场中发现的白领工人的愤怒、幻灭和背叛感，对 Burawoy 有影响力的就业游戏理论以及信任度普遍下降的相关性具有影响在美国机构。