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Sinners and Saints: Morally Stigmatized Work

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Stigmas, Work and Organizations

Part of the book series: Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma ((PAEWS))

Abstract

Morally dirty work refers to organization, occupation or employment tasks regarded as sinful, dubious, deceptive, intrusive or confrontational. For those who perform such work (dirty workers), moral taint serves as a stain on the individual’s integrity, a defect of character that may stick even after the individual stops performing the work. Often such work can be simultaneously viewed in positive and negative terms, thus performed by individuals who, we suggest, can paradoxically be considered both saints and sinners. In this chapter, we explain what we understand by moral taint and the implications at the individual, group and organization levels. We discuss what we provocatively refer to as the most obvious sinners (e.g., casino workers, HIV/AIDS/addiction caregivers, genetic termination nurses, border patrol agents), the sometimes sinners (e.g., correctional officers, truckers, private detectives), and new and surprising sinners (e.g., bankers, nursing as pornography, secretaries). We conclude with areas for future research.

Moral taint should be viewed not only as one form of taint, but rather may be more usefully understood as a discursive umbrella, implicating all other forms of taint through a moral lens. (Rivera, 2010, p. 145)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

    Gina Grandy

  2. University of Roehampton, London, UK

    Sharon Mavin

Authors
  1. Gina Grandy
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  2. Sharon Mavin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    S. Bruce Thomson

  2. University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Gina Grandy

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© 2018 The Author(s)

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Grandy, G., Mavin, S. (2018). Sinners and Saints: Morally Stigmatized Work. In: Thomson, S., Grandy, G. (eds) Stigmas, Work and Organizations . Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56476-4_6

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