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“Why would you want to do that?” : defining emotional dirty work

McMurray, R.; Ward, J.

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Authors

R. McMurray

J. Ward



Abstract

This article considers how and why people work with difficult emotions. Extending Hughes’ typology of the physical, social and moral taints that constitute ‘dirty work’ the article explores the nature of a previously neglected and undefined concept, emotional dirt. Drawing on data from a situated ethnographic study of Samaritans, we consider how the handling of difficult and burdensome emotions, which are often written out of rational accounts of work, is outsourced to others who act as society’s agents in the containment of emotional dirt. We provide the first explicit definition of emotional dirt, and contribute an extension to the existing tripartite classification of occupational taint. Moreover, in naming emotional dirt we seek to open up a sphere of research dedicated to understanding its emergence, nature and relational effects. To this end we demonstrate how taint emerges as a sociological consequence of the performance of emotional labour as emotional dirty work, whilst considering how management of the difficult, negative or out-of-place emotions of others can be framed as a positive experience such that it can be good to feel bad when handling emotional dirt.

Citation

McMurray, R., & Ward, J. (2014). “Why would you want to do that?” : defining emotional dirty work. Human Relations, 67(9), 1123-1143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726714525975

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Sep 1, 2014
Deposit Date Mar 6, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Human Relations
Print ISSN 0018-7267
Electronic ISSN 1741-282X
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 67
Issue 9
Pages 1123-1143
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726714525975
Keywords Dirt, Dirty work, Emotional labour, Ethnography, Management, Samaritans, Stigma, Suicide.

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Copyright Statement
The final definitive version of this article has been published in the journal Human Relations, vol. 67 no. 9, 2014 © The Tavistock Institute by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Human Relations page: http://hum.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/




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