A cross-cultural perspective on the social and psychological distress caused by unemployment: a comparison of Spain and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper compares the unemployment problem in Britain and in Spain. The risk of unemployment is greater in Spain and the social security system to support the unemployed less comprehensive than in the UK. The unemployed in both countries suffer lower psychological wellbeing than the employed in the same country, but there are surprising differences when comparisons are made between the British and Spanish unemployed. Attempts to fit the results into a general explanatory framework of relative deprivation theory fail. Differences between the two countries in the prevalence of a work ethic seem to be the most likely explanation.