Ministers treating unemployment as mental problem
This article is about an academic paper published in ‘Critical Medical Humanities’ (http://mh.bmj.com/content/41/1/40.full).The Paper considers the Government’s workfare programmes. It provides explanations for unemployment (suggesting people are unemployed because they have the wrong attitude or outlook) and means to achieve employability or ‘job readiness’ (by possessing work-appropriate attitudes and beliefs) to demonstrate how the Government is rebranding unemployment as a “psychological disorder”. According to researchers, benefit claimants are being forced to take part in positive thinking courses in an effort to change their personalities. This includes being bombarded with motivational text messages – such as “success is the only option”, “we’re getting there” and “smile at life” – and have to take part in “pointless” team-building exercises such as building towers out of paper clips.