When two worlds collide: The role of affect in ‘essential’ worker responses to shifting evaluative norms

Slutskaya, Natalia, Game, Annilee, Morgan, Rachel and Newton, Tim (2023) When two worlds collide: The role of affect in ‘essential’ worker responses to shifting evaluative norms. Sociology, 57 (1). pp. 211-227. ISSN 0038-0385

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Abstract

Concerns about devaluation and misrecognition are central for understanding the experiences of workers in stigmatised occupations. Yet contemporary approaches have been criticised for over-simplifying workers’ responses to mis/recognition. Povinelli’s concepts of ‘trembling of recognition’ and ‘social tense’ offer a useful starting point for extending existing understandings of mis/recognition by highlighting the contextual importance of temporality. To explore these ideas, we report on an ethnographic study of waste management workers in London, UK. The findings suggest that dirty workers’ responses to mis/recognition are a complex mix of discordant cognitive and affective reactions and narrative strategies, shaped by changing normative ideals. The findings suggest that recognition derives not only from workers’ encounters, meanings and feelings attached to the past and present but also from the sense that they have a valued part to play in the future.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Employment Systems and Institutions
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2022 15:30
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2023 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/86757
DOI:	10.1177/00380385221101795

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