ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses how the strong link between technology and masculinity is forming the occupational ethos of fire-fighters and how the micro-management of disasters in operational service is directly connected to this gendered work practice. It investigates how concrete practices in the micro-management of crisis and disaster work are guided by normative structures that exclude most women and many men of the 'wrong kind'. It draws on long-term research in the Swedish rescue services, with a special focus on masculinity constructions, rescue services and fire-fighters. New technology is continuously developed in the rescue services with the overall aim of distributing surveillance responsibility and response, and an anticipated reduction of risk. This could, for instance, be new information technology and radio communication systems, portable sprinklers and fire extinguishers. The conflation of heroism, masculinity and fire fighting is also traditionally related to class, where the occupational skills of fire-fighters are closely connected to an ethos of white working-class masculinity.
