To make laziness work for you, put some effort into it

If laziness is written into our genes, why not embrace it?

a post by Neel Burton published by AEON [republished by the Big Think blog]


Photo by Sabri Tuczu/Unsplash

We are being lazy if there's something that we ought to do but are reluctant to do because of the effort involved.

We do it badly, or do something less strenuous or less boring, or just remain idle. In other words, we are being lazy if our motivation to spare ourselves effort trumps our motivation to do the right or best or expected thing – assuming, of course, we know what that is.

In the Christian tradition, laziness, or sloth, is one of the seven deadly sins because it undermines society and God's plan and invites the other sins. The Bible inveighs against slothfulness, for example, in Ecclesiastes:

By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

Today, laziness is so closely connected with poverty and failure that a poor person is often presumed lazy, no matter how hard he or she actually works.

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and if anyone is thinking that I picked this item because of the cat you would be wrong! The Big Think post does not have that cat it has a leopard and the images from Big Think do not copy.

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Telling it like it is: opening up about my vulnerability

a post by May-May Meijer for the OUP blog


Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay

It was quite a shock for me when the independent psychiatrist asked me during my forced stay in the mental hospital what I thought of my diagnosis “schizophrenia”. It was the first time I heard my diagnosis. For the rest of our conversation the diagnosis “schizophrenia” echoed in my head. I associated “schizophrenia” with: being an outcast and violence. It was as if I was told that I was inferior and no longer part of society. Because of my illness, my husband wanted a divorce from me, I saw my child less, I quit my job at the university, and the side effects of the medicines I fell into a depression. I felt lonely and useless.

Hiding my mental illness

In the beginning I had difficulties talking about my illness. I published writings about my experiences using a pseudonym. When I still worked at the university, I didn’t dare tell my colleagues that I had suffered from a psychosis. After I quit my job, I wanted to find a new job desperately. I was afraid that an employer wouldn’t hire me if I discussed my illness. That is why I didn’t mention it on job applications. I did mention it twice, for job applications in the mental health sector. For one position, they offered me a voluntary job instead of the paid job they advertised for in the ad.

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Emotional Compliance and Emotion as Resistance: Shame and Anger among the Long-Term Unemployed

an article by Michelle Peterie and Greg Marston (University of Queensland, Australia), Gaby Ramia (University of Sydney, Australia) and Roger Patulny (University of Wollongong, Australia) published in Work, Employment and Society Volume 33 Issue 5 (October 2019)

Abstract

Contemporary governments employ a range of policy tools to ‘activate’ the unemployed to look for work.

Framing unemployment as a consequence of personal shortcoming, these policies incentivise the unemployed to become ‘productive’ members of society. While Foucault’s governmentality framework has been used to foreground the operation of power within these policies, ‘job-seeker’ resistance has received less attention. In particular, forms of emotional resistance have rarely been studied.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 80 unemployed welfare recipients in Australia, this article shows that many unemployed people internalise activation’s discourses of personal failure, experiencing shame and worthlessness as a result.

It also reveals, however, that a significant minority reject this framing and the ‘feeling rules’ it implies, expressing not shame but anger regarding their circumstances. Bringing together insights from resistance studies and the sociology of emotions, this article argues that ‘job-seeker’ anger should be recognised as an important form of ‘everyday resistance’.

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Are lower social class origins stigmatized at work? A qualitative study of social class concealment and disclosure among White men employees who experienced upward mobility

Author links an articvle article by Anna M. Kallschmidt and Asia A. Eaton (Florida International University, USA) published in Journal of Vocational Behavior Volume 113 (August 2019)

Highlights

• White men who moved up in social class strategically manage class identity at work.
• Most of our sample purposefully concealed and disclosed their previous lower class.
• Men concealed when suspecting judgment, no understanding, pity, and for privacy.
• Men disclosed to relate to or help others, or when forced to or outed by class cues.

Abstract

Despite recognizing that socioeconomic standing can influence workplace behavior, minimal research in psychology has explored social class as a stigmatized and potentially manageable identity in the workplace. Compared to women and people of color, White men who moved up from low-income backgrounds may be especially likely to experience their previous class status as a concealable stigma at work.

In this study, we used qualitative methods to investigate whether having a lower social class background might be experienced as a stigmatized identity for some employees, using a sample of 20 White men who self-identified as having moved up in social class. Individual interviews were used to assess the nature of participants' social class concealment and disclosure at work.

Thematic analysis revealed five reasons why these White men concealed their former, lower-income status at work: Judgment, Nobody understands, It's personal, Pity, and Don't want to feel embarrassed or vulnerable.

Our analysis also revealed five reasons why participants disclosed their previous class identity at work: being Forced to, To relate, To motivate/help somebody, Noticing class cues, and Becoming close.

Results indicate that having a lower social class background can be experienced as stigmatizing at work. Moreover, while disclosure of one's lower-income background is more common than concealment for men in this group, that disclosure is often unintentional or unwanted.

Our results also indicate that, like other potentially concealable identities, social class disclosure is an ongoing process that happens unevenly across time and across people. Future research should expand on this work by examining the experiences of upwardly mobile employees from other identity intersections.

Hazel’s comment:
The sample is much too small for the results to be significant but they can be taken as indicative of a problem for White men working in the USA.
Is this a problem in the UK? My experience as an employment adviser seems to be saying “yes and it is a serious issue as the UK, England in particular, is very class conscious”.

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Status, stigma and stereotype: How drug takers and drug suppliers avoid negative labelling by virtue of their ‘conventional’ and ‘law-abiding’ lives

an article by Rebecca Askew and Mike Salinas (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) published in Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume 19 Issue 3 (July 2019)

Abstract

A minority of those who consume or supply illegal drugs are detected and subsequently punished for breaching these laws. Thus, only a minority of active ‘drug offenders’ are ever formally subjected to criminal sanctioning, the criminal label, its stigmatizing effects and the resultant collateral consequences.

The current article analyses data from two studies on drug offenders – a sample of 26 users and a sample of 25 suppliers – who form part of the ‘silent majority’ of drug offenders whose offending behaviour goes largely unnoticed and unpunished. Both sets of actors are what we consider ‘law-abiding’ criminals insofar as their regular criminal transgressions are not reflected in the ways broader society, their immediate networks, nor they, view themselves.

We argue that the perceived risks posed to their conventional commitments and roles ensure their careful management and subversion of behaviour and information that might otherwise be indicative of their drug offending. Yet, at the same time, we argue that these conventional roles provide sufficient protection that their crimes go unnoticed or, if detected, unpunished.

Our conclusions support Mohammed and Fritsvold’s notion of the ‘silent majority’ that only a minority of those that use and supply illicit substances drug offenders are subject to the law, and the collateral consequences of a criminal and deviant label. We argue more research needs to be conducted with these hidden groups to help reduce the inequities, stigmas and stereotypes that befall the subsection of those who are routinely policed, sanctioned and studied.

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Mental Illness Is The Most Neglected Health Problem In The Developing World

an article by Davide Banis for Forbes [via World of Psychology blog]



When we think of international aid, we usually picture packages of food, vaccines, and water sanitation systems. Evidently, these are all fundamental needs for a healthy society.

However, there’s another, equally fundamental, component that is too often overlooked: mental health.

Mental health is an underserved cause in international aid for the same reasons it is still a taboo topic in most countries.

First off, it has a stigma attached to it. If you suffer from a mental illness, the common conception is that there’s something wrong with you, as a person, as a human being.

While for more physical diseases, we separate the illness from the person, in case of mental disease it’s more difficult to do so. Since the disease affects the mind, this is understandable to a certain extent but, at the same time, it doesn’t make it less wrong.

Secondly, mental health is perceived as a luxury good. If you suffer from depression, it means you’re just a whiny person with all their basic needs satisfied. Doesn’t it? Obviously, there’s nothing more false than this statement, yet it’s worryingly common.

Moreover, in the case of international aid, mental health struggles to attract donations also because of a marketing issue.

Research has shown that people are likely to donate twice as much if they empathize with a picture, rather than being presented with bare stats. And it’s evident how it’s much easier to capture a physical disease or a material need in a photo, rather than a mental disease.

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Overcoming Stigma Associated with Mental Illness

a post by Desiree Patton for the World of Psychology blog



Our society has come a long way in reducing the stigma around mental illness, but we still have a long way to go. Many misconceptions and stereotypes relating to mental illness still exist.

So why does it matter? Stigma can impact people’s desire to seek treatment. Stigma can cause those with mental health disorders to isolate themselves or develop negative thoughts and perceptions. It can also impact access to evidence-based treatment options.

We all can make an impact in our communities and society to reduce stigma. Read on to learn more about how to reduce self-stigma and public stigma around mental health disorders.

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The Flat Earth phenomenon on YouTube

an article by John C. Paolillo (Indiana University, USA) published in First Monday Volume 23 Number 12 (December 2018)

Abstract

An active contemporary discourse on YouTube revolves around the idea that the Earth is flat instead of round, and how Flat Earth cosmology is related to contemporary political, religious and cultural issues.

Thousands of such videos have been produced, gathering multiple millions of views. Flat Earth discourse sometimes crosses into other public discourse, but YouTube remains singularly important in promoting Flat Earth belief and encouraging development of its supporting arguments. The videos at the source of this stir are highly ambiguous.

I argue that this phenomenon represents fusion of multiple influences unique to YouTube, including conspiracy theory, climate change denial, science documentaries, clickbait, viral videos, trolling, Russian propaganda, and young-Earth religious fundamentalism.

The phenomenon cannot be properly understood without recognizing the distinct contribution of all of these elements.

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Taking stock of the ambiguous role of foodbanks in the fight against poverty

an article by Tuur Ghys (affiliation uncertain) published in Journal of Poverty and Social Justice Volume 26 Number 2 (June 2018)

Abstract

This article distills three key issues of concern from the literature on the role of foodbanks in the fight against poverty. It illustrates these issues with empirical material from a study on foodbanks in Belgium.

The first issue concerns the problematic relation of foodbanks to structural poverty reduction.

Second is the problematic position of people in poverty within the foodbank system.

Third is the role of foodbanks in so called ‘welfare retrenchment’ and the shifting of responsibility from state to charity.

We end by discussing recent evolutions and reflecting on what margin exists to improve in each three areas.

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Everyone Has Struggles, So Don’t Stigmatize Yourself

a post by Mosab Alkhteb for the Tiny Buddha blog



From a psychological point of view, my childhood sucked.

I didn't have many friends, I rarely left the house, I was terribly shy, and I used to get bullied a lot, both physically and mentally.

My teenage years weren't any different. The psychological issues I had as a child amplified further and created more profound problems.

When I started college, I didn't magically become more confident or develop high self-esteem. I was almost the same person.

Now, I proudly (and humbly) can say that I've gotten over most of my childhood and teenage problems, including the ones related to my social life.

But I'm not here to tell you how I did that. That would probably take a book. And trust me, it's not as glorious as I wish it were.

Instead, I want to tell you about one factor that made all the difference during my journey of change and development.

One factor that made my journey tolerable at times. Without it, I would have given up.

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Believe me it will be worth all the time you spend working through the ideas.

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The Stigma of Mental Illness in Small Towns

a post by Emily Gurnon for the nextavenue blog [via World of Psychology’s roundup of the web]

Many older adults in rural areas forgo treatment



Mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression are common among older adults in rural areas, affecting 10 to 25 percent of that population. But many of those people with them suffer in silence rather than seeking treatment.

Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine wanted to know why, so they questioned 478 adults aged 60 and older in rural North Carolina. The most common barrier to treatment, according to their study? The belief that “I should not need help.” Other commonly cited barriers: not knowing where to go, distance, mistrust of counselors or therapists, “not wanting to talk with a stranger about private matters” and stigma.

Stigma – the sense that something is shameful – may be felt more acutely in small rural towns because of the relative lack of anonymity there.

“We as a society have a hard time asking for help, so it’s hard enough to ask for help [without feeling] that everybody’s going to know it,” said Dennis Mohatt, vice president of the behavioral mental health program at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and director of the WICHE Center for Rural Mental Health Research.

“Your neighbors don’t have a clue in a city if you’re going to go get some help. But everybody [in a small town] will know if your pickup truck is parked outside of the mental health provider’s office,” Mohatt said.

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Mad or Bad? Does mental illness make you a danger to others?

a post by Jared Watson for the Mind and Soul blog

In the wake of a number of terrorist atrocities and mass shootings we can find ourselves asking the question: 'Why would someone commit such a terrible crime and cause so much misery and suffering?' – In fact this has became a major focus of media coverage.

A range of public opinions are often expressed in the media and it is surprising how many of them associate with mental illness. Following the Las Vegas shooting their opinions on the shooter’s behaviour was variously described as “deranged”, “disturbed”, “insane”, “demented”, “sick” and “pure evil”. While these responses were emotive and ‘off-the-cuff’ I believe the language used highlights a broader public perception and negative stereotype: that there is a strong link between violence and mental illness and that people who suffer with mental illness are likely to be dangerous.

Progress has been made in reducing the negative perception of individuals with mental illness. Unfortunately, the public response to events such as the Las Vegas shooting highlight the persistence these negative attitudes. The assumption of dangerousness in those with mental disorder is a real part of this problem. Not only does this represent another source of shame for those already stigmatized by mental disorder it also creates social distance – based on fear – from those who are alienated and isolated.

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Mental Illness and Stigma: Has Psychiatry Done more Harm than Good?

an article from a couple of years ago by Ashima Kanwar (University of Delhi, India) published in Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine Volume 37 Number 3 (April-June 2015)

Abstract

Stigma against people with mental illness is a very complex public health problem. There could be diverse reasons for this ranging from:

1. Lack of awareness;
2. Fear of a dimly-comprehended and much-misunderstood illness;
3. Illogical generalizations; and
4. Disrespect for the heterogeneity of life.

The result-for the mentally ill-could well be diminished access to social determinants of healthcare, employment, and housing. In addition, people with mental illnesses are exposed to numerous health risks such as malnutrition, drug abuse, violence and homelessness. Maybe this explains nondisclosure of illness in an increasingly degenerate civil society.

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How We Inadvertently Increase Mental Health Stigma [feedly]

a post by Shawn and Chris Kernes for the World of Psychology blog



Even if we see ourselves as advocates for increasing acceptance and understanding of people dealing with mental health issues, most of us are probably unconsciously contributing to mental health stigma.

We talk about being “depressed” on gloomy days, or “OCD” about the cleanliness of our homes. We remark that our friend has “PTSD” from a bad work week, or is “paranoid” about germs.

Most of us are guilty of having spoken these terms and phrases in everyday conversation. If not, then we’ve definitely heard others use them colloquially. We aren’t being literal, and there’s no real harm, right? Wrong – and the damage we are doing is probably much more significant than we realize.

This misappropriation of such terms belittles mental health conditions and frames them in a negative light. And it impairs the ability of all of us, including those actually confronted with mental illness, to discern between critical mental health issues and exaggerated expressions.

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Guilty as charged although I do try.

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You Probably Have the Wrong Impression About Schizophrenia

a post by Teodora Zareva for the Big Think blog

About 51 million people around the world suffer from schizophrenia, yet half of the general public doesn’t understand what schizophrenia really is. A UK non-profit Rethink Mental Illness conducted a survey amongst 1,500 and found that misconceptions about the illness abound – a reality that can make life even worse for those who suffer from the condition and have to live amongst family, friends and colleagues who harbor prejudices or are unaware of the inequalities people who have the illness face.

50% of the surveyed people, for example, mistakenly think that schizophrenia means you have a ‘split’ personality. 26% wrongly believe that schizophrenia makes you violent and 23% incorrectly think that someone with schizophrenia needs to be monitored by professionals at all times. In fact, most who live with the condition have various coping mechanisms, but unfortunately may not be able to openly seek help from their loved ones or even from professionals.

Penn State student Cecilia McGough gave an emotional TEDx talk this year titled “I Am Not A Monster”  sharing her own experience with the illness. She talks about how she had to battle with the prejudices of her own mother, who didn’t want her to look for professional help out of fear of stigmatizing her entire family.

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Is There a Stigma Against Open Discussions about Mental Illness Online?

a post by Tyler Jacobson for the World of Psychology blog

While more people are becoming sympathetic toward those who struggle with mental illness, there is still push back against “over-sharing” about personal experiences online.

Attitude Toward the Mentally Ill

About 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness a year; and with rising healthcare costs, fewer of those people can seek treatment. So when professional treatment becomes unavailable, these people (especially young people) turn to online forums to find help.

Yet misplaced feelings of shame may silence some. Others who want to share their experiences with mental illness and find healing in sharing are being stigmatized. It doesn’t help that standard attitudes toward the mentally ill (both online and off) generally fall into these categories:

• “You need to get over it” – Like mental illness is a cold being complained about, many people consider mental illness just an excuse sufferers are using to get sympathy. There is little to no sympathy expressed by these people and generally become irritated or angry with those who are dealing with mental illness.
• “Have you tried being happy?” – Those with this attitude have at least some sympathy for those with mental illnesses, but run out of patience quickly if the person doesn’t “perk up” soon. Yet, more teens and millennials suffer from depression than any other age group.
• “You’re just looking for attention” – Possibly one of the most offensive, these people do not care about those struggling with mental illness. They also tend to invalidate the idea that mental illness is a real problem.

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How to support a depressed partner while maintaining your own mental health

an article from the Guardian on 10 July 2017

Looking after someone with chronic depression can be hard, as Poorna Bell discovered when her husband became ill. The first rule, she says, is to look after yourself.


‘If your partner is depressed, you have to look after yourself or you won’t be any use to them.’
Illustration: Nick Shepherd

There is no lightning-bolt moment when you realise you are losing your sense of self; just an absence. When you are caring for someone you love, your wants and needs are supplanted by theirs, because what you want, more than anything, is for them to be well. Looking after a partner with mental health problems – in my case, my husband Rob, who had chronic depression – is complicated.

Like many people, Rob and I were not raised in a society that acknowledged, let alone spoke about, depression. The silence and stigma shaped how he dealt with his illness: indeed, he struggled with the very idea of being ill. He told me fairly early on in our relationship that he had depression, but I had no idea what this entailed – the scale, the scope, the fact that a chronic illness like this can recur every year and linger for months.

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Hungry? Food Insecurity, Social Stigma and Embarrassment in the UK

Kingsley Purdam, Elisabeth A Garratt and Aneez Esmail (University of Manchester, UK) published in Sociology Volume 50 Number 6 (2016)

Abstract

In the context of the economic recession and welfare reform in the UK there have been ongoing political debates regarding food insecurity. Food has an important role in defining people’s identities, yet the rapid growth in the number of food banks and food donation points in supermarkets and schools suggests a normalisation of food aid.

Moreover, an estimated three million individuals are thought to be at risk of malnutrition in the UK.

We examine: the discourse of food aid and the demonisation of those living in poverty, the scale of malnutrition, and the experiences of food bank users by drawing on survey data and case studies. Substantial numbers of people were constrained in their food choices, whilst food bank users had concerns about the social stigma of food aid.

It is questionable whether the present policy approach is economically and politically efficient given the impact on people’s health and well-being.

Full text (PDF)

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Destination dumping ground: The convergence of ‘unwanted’ populations in disadvantaged city areas

an article by Lynda Cheshire (The University of Queensland, Australia) and Gina Zappia (University of Tasmania, Australia) published in Urban Studies Volume 53 Number 10 (2016)

Abstract

Academic and lay discourses around disadvantaged urban areas often draw on the language of ‘dumping grounds’ to encapsulate the poverty, marginalisation and social problems often found there. Yet the concept of a dumping ground remains insufficiently theorised.

This paper addresses this issue by identifying five constituent features of the dumping ground:

• the perception of people as waste whose fate is to be discarded;
• the need to accommodate this human ‘waste’ and the logic by which places are selected for this purpose;
• the mechanisms through which this spatial sorting occurs as problem populations are moved to their ‘rightful’ place;
• the relations of power which enforce or encourage this mobility; and finally,
• the reactions of incumbent residents in neighbourhoods that are compelled to host unwanted social groups.

In the second part of this paper, these themes are illustrated via a case study of the Australian city of Logan where residents complain that their city has been treated as a dumping ground in order to explain its poor reputation.

Full text (PDF)

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‘Why would you want to do that?’: Defining emotional dirty work

an article by Robert McMurray (Durham University, UK) and Jenna Ward (De Montfort University, UK) published in Human Relations Volume 68 Number 9 (September 2014)

Abstract

This article considers how and why people work with difficult emotions.

Extending Hughes’ typology of the physical, social and moral taints that constitute ‘dirty work’, the article explores the nature of a previously neglected and undefined concept, emotional dirt.

Drawing on data from a situated ethnographic study of Samaritans, we consider how the handling of difficult and burdensome emotions, which are often written out of rational accounts of work, is outsourced to others who act as society’s agents in the containment of emotional dirt. We provide the first explicit definition of emotional dirt, and contribute an extension to the existing tripartite classification of occupational taint.

Moreover, in naming emotional dirt we seek to open up a sphere of research dedicated to understanding its emergence, nature and relational effects. To this end, we demonstrate how taint emerges as a sociological consequence of the performance of emotional labour as emotional dirty work, while considering how management of the difficult, negative or out-of-place emotions of others can be framed as a positive experience such that it can be good to feel bad when handling emotional dirt.