DISPLACED MANUFACTURING WORKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES - A RESEARCH-BASEDPRACTICE MODEL

The closing of manufacturing plants has affected many workers in the U nited States throughout the past decade. As a result, social workers a nd other human service professionals increasingly deal with the impact of displacement on individual workers and their families and particip ate in designing solutions to problems at multiple social-system level s. Based on findings from the unemployment literature and recent resea rch on plant closings, the author presents a model for understanding d islocated manufacturing workers and their families. The model can be u sed to guide formulation of interventions in direct practice and empow erment as well as in advocacy, community planning, and policy practice .