「是危機，還是轉機?」-家庭主要負擔家計者失業的生活轉變和因應經驗

Abstract

現今，失業問題已成為全球性的議題，也成為一種普遍的社會經驗，而電視 媒體紛紛以「失業悲歌」為標題描寫失業家庭的崩解與破碎，亦道出個人的失業 問題不僅對其自身產生影響，也進一步造成家庭系統的變動和失衡。回顧國內歷 年來針對失業議題進行的研究，可發現較少探究失業此壓力事件對家庭產生的轉 變和家庭如何對此壓力做出因應，故本研究以負擔家計者失業的家庭為研究對 象，分析家庭因失業所面臨的問題與生活轉變，以及家庭的壓力因應經驗，期從 中瞭解失業家庭的深切需要和真實的生活樣貌。 本研究採取質化研究深度訪談法，透過立意抽樣的方式，訪談6 個家中有就 學或就托子女的失業家庭，除以失業者為必要受訪對象，並視其家庭結構及受訪 意願，納入其它家庭成員作為訪談對象。研究發現在後工業化和全球化的影響 下，就業躍升為一新社會風險，影響所及不再限於傳統弱勢人口群和底層階級， 各階級、年齡和性別間皆存在一定的就業風險。此外，失業為家庭帶來牽一髮而 動全身的轉變，影響層面不僅是家庭經濟的匱乏、成員生心理健康、家庭內部次 系統間的互動模式，更擴及家庭和其它外在系統的互動關係、社會參與以及社會 保險制度和政策方案的使用情形，家庭所經歷的生活轉變某種程度上為一種社會 排除經驗，彼此間交互影響，環環相扣。最後，研究發現相同的危機事件，家庭 的因應經驗各不相同，首先，家庭成員乃透過外在和內在因素共同建構對失業的 認知經驗，包括個人過往工作經驗、個人和公司互動經驗、人格特質、工作價值 觀以及性別；第二，家庭在面對失業危機時，乃採取認知、心理情緒、資源交錯 運用的因應作為，且因應乃一動態的歷程非恆常不變，另就家庭如何運用和管理 內外在資源以因應失業危機，可將失業家庭分為「資源匱乏型」、「資源自足型」、「善用外部資源型」3 種因應類型；第三，家庭的因應結果不盡相同，可能引發另一波危機，也可能化危機為轉機，若以「經濟狀況」和「自我落差」此兩向度呈現家庭的因應結果，可將失業家庭分為「經濟自立，自我落差明顯」、「依靠社會福利支撐，自我落差明顯」、「依靠社會福利支撐，自我不落差明顯」三種型態。 依據研究發現，本研究在政策制度面和社會工作實務面分別做出建議，在政 策制度面建議檢討勞動政策，包括保障從事非典型工作者和關廠工人的勞動權 益、再檢討就業服務和職業訓練，另放寬取得社會救助和福利服務的資格，以及 政策規畫應納入反社會排除理念。於社會工作實務方面，落實以家庭為中心的服 務思維並納入家庭生命週期的思考，並建立跨單位的合作與轉介機制，而基層服 務工作者應提供「套裝式」的服務資訊，以及關注失業者和其它家庭成員的情緒 壓力和心理狀態。

Nowadays, unemployment has become a global issue and also a universal social experience. The media uses 'Unemployment Elegy' as the title to describe disintegration and fragmentation of family suffering from unemployment, indicating that the unemployment of an individual not only impacts oneself but also causes changes and imbalance in the family system. As we review domestic studies on unemployment issues, we observe that there are fewer studies on what changes the stressful event of unemployment causes in a family and how a family copes with thestress. Therefore, this study selects families with unemployed breadwinners as the study subjects to analyze the problems and changes in life faced by the families due to unemployment and the stress-coping experiences of the families so as to understand the deep needs and the real life status of the families suffering from unemployment. This study adopts an in-depth interview approach in qualitative research methodology and selects six families suffering from unemployment with children of school age or preschool age by purposive sampling for interview. In addition to the unemployed individuals as determined interviewees, we include other family members as interviewees depending on the family structure and their willingness. The research findings are that under the influence of post-industrialization and globalization, employment becomes a new social risk. The impact is not limited to traditionally disadvantaged population groups and the underclass; people of all classes, ages and genders are exposed to certain employment risks. In addition, unemployment results in comprehensive changes in families; the influence is not only present in economic deprivation in families, physical and mental health of family members and interaction modes of sub-systems inside the families but further extends to the interaction relationships between families and other external systems, social participation and the use of social insurance system and policy programs. The life change experienced by the families is to some extent a social exclusion experience with mutual influences and interlocking relationships between each other.In the end, the study finds that the coping experiences of each family are different in the face of the same crisis event. First, the family members establish their cognition of employment based on both external and internal factors, including their personal past work experience, the interactive experience between individuals and corporations, and their personality traits, work values and gender. Second, when faced with an unemployment crisis, the families perform coping behaviors by mixedly using cognition, emotions and resources, and the coping behavior is a dynamic process instead of a constant fixed one. In addition, in terms of the way in which families use and manage internal and external resources to cope with the unemployment crisis, the families suffering from unemployment may be classified into three coping types: “resource scarcity,” “resource self-sufficiency” and “utilization of external resources.” Third, the coping outcomes of the families vary; it is possible to trigger another wave of crisis or to turn the crisis into an opportunity. If the coping outcomes of the families are presented in two dimensions of “economic conditions” and “self-discrepancy,” the families suffering from unemployment may be classified into three types: “economic self-reliance with significant self-discrepancy,” “reliance on social welfare support with significant self-discrepancy” and “reliance on social welfare support with insignificant self-discrepancy.” Based on the findings , the study provides suggestions for social welfare policies and social work practice.