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Unhealthy Work: Causes, Consequences, Cures

Name: Unhealthy Work: Causes, Consequences, Cures
Author: Schnall, Peter L.
ISBN: 9780895033352

by Schnall, Peter L.

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Overview

Work, so fundamental to well-being, has its darker and more costly side. Work can adversely affect our health, well beyond the usual counts of injuries that we think of as "occupational health." The ways in which work is organized-its pace and intensity, degree of control over the work process, sense of justice, and employment security, among other things-can be as toxic to the health of workers as the chemicals in the air. These work characteristics can be detrimental not only to mental well-being but to physical health. Scientists refer to these features of work as "hazards" of the "psychosocial" work environment. One key pathway from the work environment to illness is through the mechanism of stress; thus we speak of "stressors" in the work environment, or "work stress." This is in contrast to the popular psychological understandings of "stress," which locate many of the problems with the individual rather than the environment. In this book we advance a social environmental understanding of the workplace and health. The book addresses this topic in three parts: the important changes taking place in the world of work in the context of the global economy (Part I); scientific findings on the effects of particular forms of work organization and work stressors on employees' health, "unhealthy work" as a major public health problem, and estimates of costs to employers and society (Part II); and case studies and various approaches to improve working conditions, prevent disease, and improve health (Part III).

Synopsis

Work, so fundamental to well-being, has its darker and more costly side. Work can adversely affect our health, well beyond the usual counts of injuries that we think of as 'occupational health'. The ways in which work is organized - its pace and intensity, degree of control over the work process, sense of justice, and employment security, among other things - can be as toxic to the health of workers as the chemicals in the air. These work characteristics can be detrimental not only to mental well-being but to physical health. Scientists refer to these features of work as 'hazards' of the 'psychosocial' work environment. One key pathway from the work environment to illness is through the mechanism of stress; thus we speak of 'stressors' in the work environment, or 'work stress'. This is in contrast to the popular psychological understandings of 'stress', which locate many of the problems with the individual rather than the environment. In this book we advance a social environmental understanding of the workplace and health. The book addresses this topic in three parts: the important changes taking place in the world of work in the context of the global economy (Part I); scientific findings on the effects of particular forms of work organization and work stressors on employees' health, 'unhealthy work' as a major public health problem, and estimates of costs to employers and society (Part II); and, case studies and various approaches to improve working conditions, prevent disease, and improve health (Part III).

About the Author, Schnall, Peter L.

Peter Schnall is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, where he directs the program in work organization and cardiovascular disease. He is a recognized expert and active researcher on the role of occupational stress in causing hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Schnall is also the director of a nonprofit foundation, the Center for Social Epidemiology, based in Venice, California, whose purpose is to educate the public about the health consequences of work stress.

Marnie Dobson is a medical sociologist and is currently a research associate at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Irvine, and associate director of the Center for Social Epidemiology in Venice, California. She received her Ph.D. in social science from the Department of Sociology at UC Irvine. Her research interests focus on gender and work, emotional labor, and work organization/psychosocial stressors and mental health outcomes.

Ellen Rosskam is a policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, visiting senior fellow at the University of Surrey, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Work Environment Department, and principal at Rosskam International Development Consulting. She is a public health and social protection specialist, and is author of many books and scientific publications. Her latest book is Excess Baggage: Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace (Baywood, 2007).

Associate Editors
Deborah R. Gordon is a medical anthropologist who has conductedanthropological research in health care settings since 1970 in the United States, Israel, and, since 1984, Italy. She is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology, History, and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2002 she was awarded a grant from the NIH Human Genome Institute to conduct "community engagement" in a Tuscan town (Italy) for the International Haplotype Map project. In 2003 she began research with opinion leaders on work and health in California, which led to organization of a California Forum, "The Way We Work and Its Impact on Our Health," and to this volume.

Paul Landsbergis is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Graduate Program in Public Health, State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn. He is coeditor of the textbook The Workplace and Cardiovascular Disease and coauthor of recent review articles on job strain and cardiovascular disease and on interventions to reduce job stress and improve health. Dr. Landsbergis was a member of the National Research Council's Committee on the Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers and of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Intervention Effectiveness Research Team.

Dean Baker is a professor of clinical medicine and director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Irvine. He is also director of the Preventive Medicine-Occupational Medicine Residency Program. He has been actively involved in research on occupational stressors for 30 years, including collaborative research with Robert Karasek and his colleagues at Columbia University in 1980 on job strain and cardiovascular disease. He is coeditor of The Workplace and Cardiovascular Disease (Hanley and Belfus, 2000) and has published many papers on work stress and health outcomes.

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Editorials

From The Critics

Reviewer: J. Thomas Pierce, MBBS PhD(Navy Environmental Health Center)
Description: The title spells out this book's primary premise, that there are causes, consequences, and cures for unhealthy work. In about 400 pages, with the contributions of a dozen authors, the editors posit that the fundamental nature of work should also be evaluated in the context of associated hazards and risks. The editors use a rather global definition of these terms, embracing a social environmental viewpoint, which begins with a historical perspective, particularly examining program antecedents from the 1970s forward, but also interjecting some fresh approaches to old problems.
Purpose: The editors hope to make a policy and procedural difference in the knowledge level of those empowered to assign and organize work. It could be argued that recognition of the problem is the primary emphasis. However, the book moves ahead to form a type of prescription for rethinking and change. It is difficult to find language adequate to address the totality of science, standards, and sentiment that this book conveys. Suffice it to say that the objectives are meaningful and appropriate if solutions are to be found.
Audience: I know that the social and behavioral science communities will gravitate toward this book, but I hope that the natural science types will as well. My favorite chapters include a first-person account of life as a city bus driver and another that details emotional labor and the pursuit of happiness. These kinds of topics resonate with a broad range of individuals and scholarly collectives.
Features: The book is organized into three parts: one, changes are taking place in the context of globalization; two, scientific findings regarding working conditions are directly relevant to employee health; and three, case studies are useful in improving working conditions.
Assessment: This book is sufficiently unique that I think most comparisons with occupational health or medicine books beg the question. The immediate comparison is perhaps with Ellen Rosskam's seminal work, Excess Baggage: Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace (Baywood, 2007). These two books are directed at a better understanding of subtle, vital processes that affect groups of people who tend to be termed workers (who isn't one!).

From The Critics

Reviewer:J. Thomas Pierce, MBBS PhD(Navy Environmental Health Center)
Description:The title spells out this book's primary premise, that there are causes, consequences, and cures for unhealthy work. In about 400 pages, with the contributions of a dozen authors, the editors posit that the fundamental nature of work should also be evaluated in the context of associated hazards and risks. The editors use a rather global definition of these terms, embracing a social environmental viewpoint, which begins with a historical perspective, particularly examining program antecedents from the 1970s forward, but also interjecting some fresh approaches to old problems.
Purpose:The editors hope to make a policy and procedural difference in the knowledge level of those empowered to assign and organize work. It could be argued that recognition of the problem is the primary emphasis. However, the book moves ahead to form a type of prescription for rethinking and change. It is difficult to find language adequate to address the totality of science, standards, and sentiment that this book conveys. Suffice it to say that the objectives are meaningful and appropriate if solutions are to be found.
Audience:I know that the social and behavioral science communities will gravitate toward this book, but I hope that the natural science types will as well. My favorite chapters include a first-person account of life as a city bus driver and another that details emotional labor and the pursuit of happiness. These kinds of topics resonate with a broad range of individuals and scholarly collectives.
Features:The book is organized into three parts: one, changes are taking place in the context of globalization; two, scientific findings regarding working conditions are directly relevant to employee health; and three, case studies are useful in improving working conditions.
Assessment:This book is sufficiently unique that I think most comparisons with occupational health or medicine books beg the question. The immediate comparison is perhaps with Ellen Rosskam's seminal work, Excess Baggage: Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace (Baywood, 2007). These two books are directed at a better understanding of subtle, vital processes that affect groups of people who tend to be termed workers (who isn't one!).