Status Fixity and Dirty Workers' Experiences of Recognition

Bibliographic Data

ID3513698
AuthorsNatasha Slutskaya (0000-0003-3066-7896, University of Sussex, corresponding author), 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)
Year2025
Volume60
Issue2
Pages348-367
Publication date2025-09-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00380385251365514
OpenAlexW4414450629
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited45

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