Analyzing Unemployment Through Societal Lenses: Australia

This essay delves into the multifaceted issue of unemployment within the context of Australian society. It examines the influence of societal beliefs, specifically focusing on social construction and social imagination, to understand how unemployment is perceived and addressed. The assignment contrasts these two social theories, illustrating how social construction often attributes unemployment to individual failings, while social imagination views it as a broader societal problem. The essay further explores how these theories manifest in the Australian context, where unemployment is frequently stigmatized. The analysis includes relevant examples and concludes by highlighting the dominance of social construction perspectives in Australia, which often overshadow the structural factors contributing to unemployment. The essay references key sociological literature to support its arguments and provides a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running head: UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
Understanding Society
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

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UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................2
Key points:..............................................................................................................................2
Definition of social construction and social imagination...........................................................2
Discussion of unemployment with relevance to the theory.......................................................2
Social theories explaining unemployment in Australia.............................................................3
Examples....................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................3
References..............................................................................................................................5

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UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
Introduction
The assignment discusses the influence of societal beliefs upon individual and
community. In this assignment two different aspects of the society such as social construction
and social imaginations have been discussed with respect to the situation of unemployment in
Australia. The study helps to compare the problem of unemployment and the views related to
it within the Australian society.
Key points:
Definition of social construction and social imagination
The social construction theory is based upon the fact that human beings relate their
experiences by developing models of the social world, which they share with the peer
community through well constructed messaged and languages (Holmes et al. 2014). In other
words, the social constructions are shared assumptions developed by the society and may
vary depending upon cultural contexts (Dannefer et al. 2016). Social imagination relates the
life of an individual with the history of society. The social imagination develops a deep
rooted understanding in an individual, which help them realize the relation between personal
experiences and larger society.
Discussion of unemployment with relevance to the theory
The two different social theories could be used for evaluating the concept regarding
unemployment. As per the social construction theory unemployment arises due to
unwillingness in people to work. As mentioned by Smyth (2016), unemployment is seen as
an excuse found by lazy people to avoid work. Thus, it fails to look at the larger picture,
which focuses upon the inner and much deep rooted problems such as lack of job satisfaction

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UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
and less pay. The social construction associates the issue of unemployment with personal
weakness.
The social imagination on the other hand, looks at the issue of unemployment as a
social problem rather than individual problem. In a country where due to economic downturn
almost 30% of the population are facing unemployment crisis then, the fault lies more within
the structure of the society rather than individual self (Mavromaras et al. 2015).
Social theories explaining unemployment in Australia
The Australian society is rather influenced by the social constructs where
unemployment is often associated with the laziness present within people. On the other hand,
a certain section of the society is of the opinion that there are not sufficient opportunities as
per the qualifications possessed by the people resulting in higher emigration rates
(Golebiowska et al. 2016). Therefore, at any stage great amount of involvement from the
state and federal level government is required.
Examples
An example could be cited by explaining the collective view possessed by the
Australians regarding unemployment. In this respect, Australia is characterised as a market
oriented or liberal, residual, welfare state where the receipt of social security or more
precisely unemployment benefits is associated with greater amount of social stigma
(Dannefer et al. 2016).
Conclusion
The assignment highlights or compares and contrasts between different social theories
and beliefs regarding unemployment in Australia. From the study it could be analysed that

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UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
Australian society is dominated mostly by social construction where unemployment is often
associated with personal failure rather than infrastructural deprivation.

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UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
References
Dannefer, D., Kelley-Moore, J. and Huang, W., 2016. Opening the Social: Sociological
imagination in life course studies. In Handbook of the life course (pp. 87-110). Springer,
Cham. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-20880-0_4.
Golebiowska, K., Elnasri, A., & Withers, G 2016, ‘ Responding to Negative Public Attitudes
towards Immigration through Analysis and Policy: regional and unemployment
dimensions’, Australian Geographer, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 435-453, Retrieved from:
https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2016.1220904.
Holmes, D., Hughes, K. & Julian, R 2014, Australian sociology, Pearson Australia, pp101-
212, Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pK-
aBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Holmes,+D.,+Hughes,+K.+%26+Julian,+R+
+2014,+Australian+sociology,+Pearson+Australia,+pp101-
212.&ots=E0n5QT25xP&sig=Z6bgilcbeqfk57Eq0bpsqo_NzAo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q
&f=false.
Mavromaras, K., Sloane, P., & Wei, Z 2015, ‘ The scarring effects of unemployment, low
pay and skills under-utilization in Australia compared’, Applied economics, vol. 47, no.23,
pp. 2413-2429, Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2015.1008762.
Smyth, J 2016, ‘Puncturing notions of precarity through critical educational research on
young lives in Australia: Towards a critical ethnography of youth’, Ethnography and
Education, vol.11. no.2, pp.129-141. Retrieved from:
https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2015.1040429.