Dirty Work

Three Sources of Stigma

Early work on occupational stigma by sociologists Erving Goffman and Everett Hughes outlined three [Page 153]ways that an occupation could be labeled as stigmatized: through physical, social, or moral taint. Although neither Goffman nor Hughes offered exact definitions of these types of stigma, organizational scholars Blake Ashforth and Glen Kreiner gave more specific examples and parameters for each of them. Physical taint refers to occupations connected to tangibly offensive things such as dirt, garbage, or death (e.g., embalmers, trash collectors, janitors) or performed under highly noxious or dangerous conditions (e.g., miners, soldiers). Social taint refers to occupations involving frequent interaction with stigmatized groups (such as a probation officer's or lawyer's association with criminals) or with markedly servile relationships accepted by society (e.g., taxi driver, butler). Moral taint refers to occupations that are regarded by a significant segment of society to be sinful or of dubious virtue (such as exotic dancers, casino workers) or in which deceptive or intrusive methods are commonly employed (e.g., telemarketers, internal affairs officers).

Breadth and Depth of Stigma

Not all dirty work research focuses on extremely tainted jobs. Rather, it has been argued that stigma exists in many jobs, but to varying degrees. Indeed, some degree of stigma can be found in virtually all occupations. One dimension on which dirty work can vary is breadth of taint. This depends on (a) the proportion of work that is dirty and/or (b) the centrality of the dirt to the occupational identity. The second dimension on which dirty work can vary is the depth of taint. This refers to (a) the intensity of dirtiness and (b) the extent to which a job incumbent is directly involved in the dirt.

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