Peekaboo (eBook)

A Man Unseen Love

Azhar Ul Haque Sario (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
200 Seiten
Azhar Sario Hungary (Verlag)
978-3-384-73953-7 (ISBN)

Infos

What if the 'new, involved father' we all talk about is more of a myth than a reality for most men?

 

This book, 'Peekaboo: A Man's Unseen Love,' explores that very question. It takes you on a global journey. We travel to 15 different countries. We meet 15 different men, each with a unique story. You'll meet Kenji, a manager in Tokyo. He endures an extreme corporate culture just to provide. You'll meet Min-jun, a 'goose dad' in Seoul. He lives alone, separated from his family, to fund his children's education abroad. We see Aarav in India, facing huge financial pressure as a new husband. We see David in the U.S., lying awake at night mentally balancing the family budget. We travel to Mexico, where Javier, a construction worker, ignores his own pain to avoid missing a day of work. We meet Lars in Sweden, a 'latte dad' who shows a different model of fatherhood. Then there's Adebayo in Nigeria, an elder who finally shares the stories of hardship he once hid. Each chapter tells a personal, intimate story. It shows a father navigating the real world. His love is real. But it's often unseen. It's expressed through sacrifice, provision, and quiet endurance. This book looks at the gap. The gap between the ideal of fatherhood and the reality for men in 2025.

 

So, how is this book different? Many books tell you how to be a better dad. They push one, single ideal of fatherhood. This book does something else. It shows you why fatherhood is so complex and different around the world. It doesn't just give advice. It connects real, personal stories to the big-picture forces that shape them. You'll learn about karoshi (death from overwork) in Japan. You'll see how machismo in Brazil and Mexico shapes a father's actions. You'll understand how state policies, like Sweden's 'daddy quota,' can change everything, while a lack of policy in the U.S. creates different pressures. This book moves past simple stereotypes. It gives a compassionate, researched look at the hidden pressures and unseen sacrifices of men. It doesn't just judge men for not being 'present.' It investigates the economic systems, cultural norms, and state policies that often prevent it. You will see how job insecurity in Spain, ageism in Singapore, and the legacy of post-Soviet change in Russia all shape a man's identity. It explains why a man's love is so often performed in ways we don't always recognize. This is a book for anyone who wants to truly understand the men in their lives-their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons-and the complex world they live in.

 

Copyright Disclaimer: This author has no affiliation with any official board or organization mentioned in the research. This book is an independent production. All academic theories, cultural concepts, and data are referenced for analysis and commentary under the principles of nominative fair use.

Textauszug

The Threat of the Pink Slip (Case Study: Spain)

 

8.1 Job Insecurity Theory in a Dual Labor Market

 

Javier's story is not just a personal tragedy. It is the human face of a systemic, structural problem that has defined Spain for decades. To understand his long-term unemployment, and the deep psychological weight he carries, we must look beyond the individual and at the fractured architecture of the Spanish economy: the dual labor market. His experience, mirrored by millions, is a living case study in Job Insecurity Theory, a framework that explains how the threat of job loss can be as damaging as the loss itself.

 

Javier was a construction worker in Andalusia. Before 2008, he was part of a booming industry, a symbol of Spain's rapid growth. He built homes, roads, and resorts. But when the global financial crisis hit, it didn't just rain; it flooded. Spain's infamous property bubble burst with catastrophic force. The construction sector was decimated, shedding over 60% of its workforce. Javier's "pink slip" was one of millions.

 

But why was his job loss so immediate? And why has his return to work been impossible? The answer lies in the "duality" of the market that employed him.

 

The Two Spains: Insiders and Outsiders

 

Spain's labor market is effectively split into two different worlds, operating side-by-side. It is a system of "insiders" and "outsiders."

 

The "Insiders" are workers with permanent, open-ended contracts (contratos indefinidos). These contracts are heavily protected by Spanish labor law. Historically, dismissing a permanent worker was, and still can be, a complex and expensive process for a company, often involving significant severance pay. These workers are typically older, have more seniority, and enjoy a high degree of job security. They are the protected class.

 

The "Outsiders," in contrast, are the vulnerable class. They work on temporary, fixed-term contracts (contratos temporales). This category includes a huge portion of the workforce, particularly the young, immigrants, and those in sectors like tourism and construction—Javier's sector. Before recent reforms, Spain had one of the highest rates of temporary employment in all of Europe, with nearly a quarter of its workforce on such contracts.

 

This dual system was born from reforms in the 1980s. The intention was to make a rigid labor market more flexible and encourage hiring. The result, however, was a monster. Instead of creating a flexible workforce, it created a disposable workforce.

 

When a company needs to grow, it hires "outsiders" on temporary contracts. It's fast and cheap. But when an economic shock hits—like the 2008 crisis—these same "outsiders" are the first to go. Their contracts are simply not renewed. It's a low-cost, low-friction way for companies to shed staff. The "insiders" are largely insulated from the shock, while the "outsiders" absorb almost all of it.

 

This is the machine that caught Javier. He was an "outsider." His job was built on the shaky foundation of a temporary contract, and when the bubble burst, that foundation dissolved. He and millions like him were jettisoned from the economy to protect the core of permanent "insiders."

 

Job Insecurity Theory: The Two Faces of Fear

 

This dual system is the perfect laboratory for Job Insecurity Theory. This theory, as the chapter snippet notes, defines insecurity as a "perceived threat to employment stability." It's a crucial distinction: the perception of a threat. The theory argues that this perception is a powerful stressor with profound consequences.

 

The Spanish model allows us to see the two key components of this theory in high definition: objective insecurity and subjective insecurity.

 

Objective Job Insecurity

 

This is the "fact" of the matter. It is the measurable, concrete risk to your employment. In Spain, your contract type is your objective insecurity level.

 

If you are an "outsider" on a 6-month temporary contract, your objective insecurity is high. There is a specific, known date when your employment might end. You are, by definition, precarious.

 

If you are an "insider" with a permanent contract, your objective insecurity is low. The law is on your side.

 

For workers like Javier, this objective insecurity is a constant reality. Even during the "good" years of the construction boom, he likely cycled through a series of temporary contracts. The job was there, but the stability was not. He was never an "insider." He was always one contract away from the unemployment line. The 2008 crisis simply meant the next contract never came.

 

This high rate of temporary work creates a phenomenon known as "high turnover." People are constantly entering and exiting jobs. This prevents them from building seniority, gaining new skills through on-the-job training, or making long-term financial plans. They are trapped in a revolving door of low-wage, high-risk employment.

 

Subjective Job Insecurity

 

This is the "feeling" of the matter. It is the personal, internal, and subjective fear of losing your job. It is the worry, the anxiety, the "perceived impotence" that Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt, the theory's pioneers, described.

 

This is the psychological dimension. It’s the knot in Javier's stomach.

 

In Spain's dual market, the objective and subjective are deeply intertwined, but they don't always match perfectly.

 

For "Outsiders": Objective and subjective insecurity are aligned. Your contract is temporary (objective fact), so you feel insecure (subjective feeling). You know you are disposable. This constant, low-level (or high-level) stress has been shown to be as bad for mental health as a major life event. It's a chronic condition.

 

For "Insiders": This is where it gets more complex. An "insider" has an objectively secure job. They have a permanent contract. And yet, they can still experience high subjective insecurity. Why? Because they see what is happening around them. They watch their "outsider" colleagues disappear overnight. They read the news about mass layoffs in their sector. They see the national unemployment rate spike to 25%.

 

This creates a "survivor's" anxiety. They may be safe today, but the sheer scale of the economic destruction around them makes them feel that no one is truly safe. They start to fear that their company might go bankrupt, or that the government will pass new reforms that make it easier to fire them, too.

 

This is why the dual labor market is so toxic. It doesn't just harm the "outsiders"; it creates a culture of fear that seeps into the "secure" part of the workforce as well, leading to widespread stress, reduced productivity, and a reluctance to spend money, which further hurts the economy.

 

Beyond the Pink Slip: Qualitative vs. Quantitative Insecurity

 

Job Insecurity Theory also makes another vital distinction: the difference between quantitative and qualitative insecurity.

 

Quantitative Insecurity is what Javier is experiencing. It is the most basic, fundamental fear: the "threat of job loss." It's the worry that you will lose your job entirely and become unemployed. This is the fear of the pink slip itself.

 

Qualitative Insecurity, on the other hand, is the fear of losing valued features of your job. People who experience this are not necessarily afraid of being fired. They are afraid that their job will become worse. They worry about:

 

Forced pay cuts.

 

Losing their hard-won career prospects or chances for promotion.

 

Their hours being changed arbitrarily.

 

Being moved to a different, less desirable position.

 

A general loss of autonomy or status at work.

 

In the wake of the 2008 crisis, millions of Spanish "insiders"—the "survivors"—faced intense qualitative insecurity. Their companies, desperate to cut costs but unable to fire them, simply made their jobs worse. Wages were frozen or cut, workloads were increased to cover for the fired "outsiders," and the threat of "if you don't like it, you can leave" (knowing there were no other jobs) became a powerful tool of control.

 

This shows that the "pink slip" is just one part of the threat. The dual labor market creates a system where "outsiders" face quantitative insecurity (fear of job loss) and "insiders" face qualitative insecurity (fear of job degradation). The entire workforce is caught in a trap.

 

The Psychological Scar: Losing the "Provider Role"

 

This brings us back to Javier. The chapter snippet correctly identifies the "profound psychological impact of being unable to fulfill the provider role." This is not a secondary effect; it is the central human cost of this economic system.

 

In a society like Spain, with strong, traditional family values, the role of the "provider" (historically male) is deeply embedded in a person's identity. This is not just about money. It's about social status, purpose, and self-esteem.

 

Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, a key psychological framework, helps explain this. It argues that a job is not just one thing; it is a massive bundle of resources.

 

It provides...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 26.10.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Familie / Erziehung
• Schlagworte: Fatherhood • financial stress • Global fatherhood • men mental health • modern masculinity • provider role • work life conflict
• ISBN-10: 3-384-73953-1 / 3384739531
• ISBN-13: 978-3-384-73953-7 / 9783384739537