Status Fixity and Dirty Workers' Experiences of Recognition

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3513698
AutoresNatasha Slutskaya (0000-0003-3066-7896, University of Sussex, autor de correspondencia), Annilee Game (UEA, UK), Rachel Morgan (0000-0003-2318-3359, Brunel University, UK), Izabela Delabre (0000-0002-4046-8252, Birkbeck, University of London), Tim Newton (0000-0002-7116-7786, University of Leicester)
Año2025
Volumen60
Número2
Páginas348-367
Fecha de publicación2025-09-21
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00380385251365514
OpenAlexW4414450629
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas45

Based on interviews with waste management workers, this study focuses on changes in low-paid/low-status workers' experiences of recognition during and after the pandemic. In this article, we explore these developments, drawing on the work of Honneth, Fraser, Neckel and Reckwitz. Our analysis challenges the rather romanticised treatment of recognition that persists in existing research on dirty work. In particular, though the pandemic heightened societal awareness of the value of essential services, we found that these emancipatory moments were short lived, as status hierarchies remained largely unchallenged. Instead, workers' experiences during the pandemic suggest a growing sense of status fixity and polarisation which, following Neckel and Reckwitz, reflect a broader sharpening in economic and cultural inequality

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Meaning (existential) · Pandemic · Value (mathematics) · Work (physics) · Emotional Labor in Professions · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions