Learning Through Uncertainty: A Phenomenological Analysis of Older, Professional Men Coping with Involuntary Job Loss in the United States

Abstract

The global recession caused scores of professionals to experience involuntary job loss. Unlike the case in prior financial downturns, men—especially older, professional men (i.e., aged 50+ whose employment required four-year college degrees)—in the United States suffered their fair share of job losses. To explore how this population coped adaptively with involuntary job loss, I conducted a phenomenological study of men across a range of professions who fitted this profile. Findings suggested that the older men who cope adaptively with this phenomenon demonstrate more developmentally complex ways of meaning-making. Such men viewed themselves as ‘narratives’ with subsequent chapters to be written, and were more likely to seek out actively others who also lost jobs (i.e., ‘rugged interdependence’) to further their goals moving forward.