Unemployment Experiences of Thai Music Graduates: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The major objectives of this research are to describe experiences of unemployed graduates in Thai music field, identify the essence of the experiences, elicit the essential meaning of the participants’ experience, and explain the causes of unemployment including the way to handle their lives while they are unemployed. This research is conducted by qualitative approaches based on the principle of phenomenological study together with an interview of twelve participants who experienced unemployment.

According to the findings, the unemployment experience through the lens of participants reflects the feelings that happened with the graduates while they were unemployed; at that time, a wide variety of emotions occurred but there was no joy emotion. Participants define ‘unemployment experience’ by way of ‘self-image’ that created from their original existence as they look through themselves. This was combined with the existence that was created from society’s perspective. As a result, this eventually becomes a new self-image; there is both positive and negative self. During the unemployment period, participants had their approaches for tackling tension and financial problem; they managed with a wide variety of solutions based on individual styles. The causes of unemployment interpreted from participants’ word of mouth take account of personal cause together with the cause stemmed from the transformation of social, economic, and political conditions. The most important thing discovered is the essence of the experiences, ‘learning to adjust’, which can be divided into three stages namely conflict, defense, and adjustment stage.