University of Sussex
Browse
Beyond the Symbolic.pdf (434.07 kB)

Beyond the symbolic: a relational approach to dirty work through a study of refuse collectors and street cleaners

Download (434.07 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 02:08 authored by Jason Hughes, Ruth Simpson, Natalia SlutskayaNatalia Slutskaya, Alex Simpson, Kahryn Hughes
Drawing on a relational approach and based on an ethnographic study of street cleaners and refuse collectors, we redress a tendency towards an over-emphasis 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 (2015) 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.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Work, Employment and Society

ISSN

0950-0170

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Issue

1

Volume

31

Page range

106-122

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-07-13

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-03-03

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-07-14

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC