Managing spoiled identities: dirty workers' struggles for a favourable sense of self

Gina Grandy

85 citations0/0 files storedQualitative Research in Organizations and Management An International Journal

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Management and Organizational Studies Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies Emotional Labor in Professions

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how a group of dirty workers, that is, exotic dancers employed in a gentlemen's club, engage in identity construction amidst various macro, meso and micro considerations. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a social constructivist approach in exploring the stories of a group of 21 dancers employed at a chain of exotic dancing clubs in the UK, For Your Eyes Only. Findings Identity construction is a complex process whereby dancers struggle to secure a positive sense of self among the various resources they encounter. The findings focus upon the processes of distancing through projecting disgust upon clients, other dancers and other clubs. Dancers do this to minimize the stigma associated with their own identities and position themselves in a more favourable light to others. In doing this, dancers construct a variety of identity roles for themselves and “others.” This process of distancing also results in the construction of a hierarchy of stigmatization whereby dancers categorize motivations for dancing, type of dancing and type of clubs to rationalize the work they perform and manage their spoiled identities. Practical implications The stories of these dancers illustrate the messy nature of identity construction for dirty workers. In turn, it also illuminates how a better understanding of the complexity of identity construction for exotic dancers can offer insights transferable to other dirty work occupations and organizations in general. Originality/value The paper provides an indepth look at an occupational site that is relatively unexplored in organization studies and thus makes a unique empirical contribution. It also offers a more comprehensive theoretical lens for understanding identity construction and dirty workers.

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References

1956The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.1989The Practice of Social Research 1969Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity 2015Mind, Self, and Society 1990Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria 1998The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process 2017Ethnographic Interview 1989Social Identity Theory and the Organization

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2015Money Matters: Teflonic Identity Manoeuvring in the Investment Banking Sector 2022Stigma Hierarchies: The Internal Dynamics of Stigmatization in the Sex Work Occupation 2018Changing experiences of work dirtiness, occupational disidentification, and employee withdrawal.2020When Stigma Doesn’t Transfer: Stigma Deflection and Occupational Stratification in the Sharing Economy 2011Occupational image, organizational image and identity in dirty work: Intersections of organizational efforts and media accounts 2012

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