Psychosocial Effects of Workplace Hazardous Exposures: Theoretical Synthesis and Preliminary Findings

Physical and chemical risks are conspicuously absent from the sociological literature on how work affects personality. This paper is a preliminary exploration of the effects on workers of daily uncertainty about chemical risks to their health. A central contention is that whether or not the danger of toxic exposures is real, worry and uncertainty about the danger result in increased anxiety, fatalism, depression, and lowered self-esteem. A preliminary analysis of 1989 NORC General Social Survey data examines the effects of “unhealthy” and “dangerous” workplaces on worker depression, fatalism, and anomie.