Hughes, J, Simpson, R, Slutskaya, N et al. (2 more authors) (2017) Beyond the symbolic: a relational approach to dirty work through a study of refuse collectors and street cleaners. Work, Employment and Society, 31 (1). pp. 106-122. ISSN 0950-0170
Abstract
Drawing on a relational approach and based on an ethnographic study of street cleaners and refuse collectors, we redress a tendency towards an overemphasis on the discursive by exploring the co-constitution of the material and symbolic dynamics of dirt. We show how esteem-enhancing strategies that draw on the symbolic can be both supported and undermined by the physicality of dirt, and how relations of power are rooted in subordinating material conditions. Through employing Hardy and Thomas’s taxonomy of objects, practice, bodies and space, we develop a fuller understanding of how the symbolic and material are fundamentally entwined within dirty work, and suggest that a neglect of the latter might foster a false optimism regarding worker experiences.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016, The Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper published in Work, Employment and Society. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. |
Keywords: | dirt, dirty work, relational ontology, taint |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Sociology and Social Policy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Nov 2018 11:40 |
Last Modified: | 15 Jun 2020 15:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0950017016658438 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:138250 |