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Purpose: To examine the influence of employment social support type (e.g. co-worker, supervisor, general support) on risk of occurrence of low back pain, and prognosis (e.g. recovery, return to work status) for those who have low back pain. Methods: Systematic search of seven databases (MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL, IBSS, AMED and BNI) for prospective or case-control studies reporting findings on employment social support in populations with nonspecific back pain. Data extraction and quality assessment were carried out on included studies. A systematic critical synthesis was carried out on extracted data. Results: Thirty-two articles were included that describe 46 findings on the effect of employment social support on risk of and prognosis of back pain. Findings show that there is no effect of co-worker, supervisor or general work support on risk of new onset back pain. Weak effects of employment support were found for recovery and return to work outcomes; greater levels of co-worker support and general work support were found to be associated with less time to recovery or return to work. Conclusions: The evidence suggests that the association between employment support and prognosis may be subject to influence from wider concepts related to the employment context. This review discusses these wider issues and offers directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on 1 year of ethnographic fieldwork in Los Angeles, this article examines how Latina nannies create workplace solidarity in a public park. This article reveals how nannies use public spaces in the neighborhoods in which they work to establish ties similar to co-worker relations in other settings. This paper demonstrates how nannies create a community at the park by incorporating park staff into their activities, reinforcing group values such as sharing and reciprocity, and distinguishing themselves from their employers. Adding to previous research which highlights the atomization and stigmatization that comes with domestic employment, this article shows how nannies create co-worker relationships that are buffers against unfavorable job conditions such as solitary work settings and unappreciative employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses work ethics in the U.S. According to the article, discretion is not new to the U.S. workplace. In 1800, close to 80 percent of all U.S. workers were self-employed. Many of these workers had high discretion jobs as farmers, or as independent tradesmen or skilled craftsmen. In the hundred years between the 1870s and 1970s, the U.S. underwent a remarkable transition from a rural society of craftsmen and farmers to the most powerful country in world history. In the early part of this period, the country integrated successive waves of immigrants from all over the world into the mainstream of U.S. life. Even more remarkable, this phenomenal growth in national prosperity and individual standards of living was accomplished by enhancing rather than restricting political liberties. The successful industrialization of the U.S. implicitly taught a powerful lesson--the key to success lay not with upgrading front-line workers but with downgrading and simplifying their jobs.

A promotion of concepts of corporate family and employee participation as well as euphemisms which stress employee-employer long-term continuity makes the loss of loyalty flowing from downsizings and mass firings as well as corporate restructurings more difficult both for the employer and employee. The promotion of reciprocal obligations between employer and employee misleads both into a belief system which is to their mutual disadvantage. Corporate semanatics that soften employment realities and the implications of dislocation with positive rhetoric increases the sense of failure and guilt on the part of both employer and employee. Unrealistic expectations create hostility. If employment dislocation is seen as part of a continual economic evolution, not shrouded in semantic double-speak, loss of employment no longer becomes an outrageous afront to the dignity of those involved but rather a normal process of economic change and renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]