ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the conditions under which individuals might be said to undertake emotionally dirty work. It argues that emotional dirty work speaks to a distinct form of tainted labour. The chapter illustrates the nature, extent and spread of such work through interview extracts with those engaged in home care, banking, policing, veterinary medicine, reception work and with Samaritans. Drawing on the experiences of those working in the public, private and voluntary sectors, it explains why people take on emotionally dirty work, how they make sense of it, and what they themselves get out of it. This reveals a complex picture of the dark side of emotional labour in which work that others see as undesirable, dangerous and tainted is described by workers with a sense of job satisfaction and pride. The chapter shows how individuals and occupations reframe and renarrate what it means to be involved in dirty work such that it is seen as a positive social good.
