The problems of unemployment soon reach the desks and consulting rooms of professional helpers. But, when joblessness is the ‘social disease’, what role is there for the professional who sees the symptoms but cannot offer the cure—a job? Stephen Fineman in his book Supporting the Jobless (first published in 1990) reveals, through a sensitive portrait of their lives and dilemmas, the sense of crisis that these professionals feel in the face of unemployment.

The book covers four professions—medicine, specifically general practice; the clergy; the police; and the probation service. They represent the spectrum of social care provision and very different professional and organizational cultures. The author looks closely at how helpers respond to their jobless clients. Some cling to vestiges of their traditional professionalism, while others try to develop more effective support, only to encounter rigid professional restraints intent on self-protection. The author considers whether professionals are flexible enough to overcome these restraints and change their practice and organization to respond to their clients’ needs.

This volume is a practical and accessible study of the human cost of unemployment from the professionals’ viewpoint. Based on detailed research and case studies, it offers unusual accounts of joblessness to students of sociology, social psychology, and management. It gives professionals constructive suggestions for improving the service they offer clients who find themselves out of work.