ABSTRACT
The chapter highlights that public sector employees are aware that their actions and cynicism reproduce their plight but act, at least in part, in a way that reflects a collective identification with the public, each other and/or due to economic necessity. It explores the literature on resistance and especially cynicism. The value of cynicism as a means of workplace resistance is something of a vexed issue. There was a concern with how language is used to manipulate and manufacture reality in a way that seeks to disguise or reconfigure everyday life. Cynicism can be understood as a double edged sword because on the one hand it provides a coping mechanism—a ‘release’ or ‘safety’ valve—allowing employees to vent their anger, maintain a sense of independence and live with what are otherwise insufferable conditions. Cynicism has been seen as an ‘individualistic’ endeavour and it is understood to protect against ‘encroachment into the private realm’ thereby generating ‘psychic satisfaction’.
