Workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment in the context of dirty Work

Abstract

Dirty work is marked by the intersection of tainted work, marginalized social identities and difficult work environments characterized by precarity and sometimes obscure legal status of occupations. These multiple factors together make dirty workers vulnerable to workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment, which further exacerbates the distress arising out of doing a stigmatized job. This chapter, drawing on international literature, explores the interface between dirty work and workplace bullying, highlighting how the stigmatized status of dirty workers leads to bullying in occupational and organizational contexts. Internal, external and depersonalized bullying in relation to both low- and high-prestige dirty occupations is discussed. Etiological factors specific to dirty occupations, namely, taint and marginalized social identities, triggering harassment as well as taint management strategies and sources of prestige aiding dirty workers’ coping with abuse are elaborated. Notwithstanding the acute distress and feelings of powerlessness dirty workers experience, they engage in agentic behaviour and attempt to regain mastery and realize well-being. The chapter offers a new research agenda to the field of workplace bullying, since the lens of dirty work has not been deployed in the substantive area so far. The relevance of decent work, organizational governance and collective action as interventions to tackle workplace bullying, emotional abuse and harassment in the context of dirty work is discussed.