It’s Dirty Work but Someone Has To Do It: An Examination of Correctional Officer Taint Management Techniques

Abstract

Since the 1950s scholars have applied the term dirty work to occupations that society views as demoralizing or disgusting. Occupations are labeled as dirty when they require work which is physically, socially and/or morally tainted. Correctional officers experience pervasive levels of all three types of taint while working in a low prestige occupation. This article relies on ethnographic data to examine how occupational stigma management techniques are taught to new officers and what techniques are most prominent. The findings indicate that new officers are taught occupational ideologies regarding stigma management primarily through sense-making and storytelling. We find that officers manage stigma primarily through reframing their work.