‘If You Have Security, Ed, That Is Everything’: Deconstructing ‘Security’ as a Buffer Against Life's Challenges

Abstract

This paper presents a case study concerning the recovery of a young woman's wellbeing after a personal crisis in the summer of 2019. The analytical approach used draws on a conceptual model where wellbeing is a balance point between an individual's resources and the challenges they face. Therefore, stable wellbeing is when individuals have the physical, psychological and social resources they need to meet the physical, psychological and or social challenges they face. When individuals have more challenges than resources, the balance dips, along with their wellbeing, and vice versa. After outlining the theoretical base of the model, this paper presents a highly subjective analysis of the challenges faced by and resources available to the young woman in the case study. The daughter of a pig man and a Horrobin, she had worked three jobs in order to purchase a house for her young family. Her plans were precipitously destroyed leading to a breakdown in her marriage. This paper considers her path to recuperation in the aftermath of the crisis with a reference to her notion that ‘security is everything.’

Citation

Cambell, L. (2021), "‘If You Have Security, Ed, That Is Everything’: Deconstructing ‘Security’ as a Buffer Against Life's Challenges", Headlam, N. and Courage, C. (Ed.) Flapjacks and Feudalism, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-386-420211005