The maladjusted worker : a survey by means of the Rorschach and other indices

Abstract

In every work situation, assuming that the conditions of work are reasonably satisfactory, the workers may be divided into two classes. The first type of worker is the individual who is capable of making adjustive reactions to the work situation. The second type is the individual who is unable to adjust himself to the work situation. The investigation is an attempt to discover features of temperament, intelligence; and socio-economic background which are peculiar to the maladjusted worker, and which differentiate the maladjusted worker from the average worker. It is primarily a survey of maladjustment in workers, but, in order to create an adequate picture of the maladjusted worker it is necessary to draw a comparison between maladjustment and normality. For this reason the survey was extended to include a consideration of the average worker as well. The investigation has been designed so as to cover three gradations of maladjustment in workers. First, there is the maladjusted worker who is engaged in a wage-earning occupation in the open labour market. The types of maladjustment that are considered are marked, in that they represent distinct deviations from the accepted norms of the group to which the individual belongs, but they are not sufficiently serious to warrant a withdrawal from employment in the open •labour market. The second gradation of work maladjustment is to be found in the individual who is unable to compete for, or to retain, employment in the open labour market, and who, subsequently to the occurrence of a series of work failures, is relegated to sheltered employment. The third gradation of maladjustment includes those workers who are hospitalized as a result of the occurrence of a series of work failures, or the occurrence of a breakdown in the work situation.