Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘There’s always got to be a villain’
T2 - the police as ‘dirty’ key workers and the effects on occupational prestige
AU - De Camargo, Camilla
AU - Whiley, Lileth A.
PY - 2022/6/30
Y1 - 2022/6/30
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded the opportunity for key workers in some traditionally ‘dirty’ occupations to experience elevated levels of prestige. Although public perceptions of certain key workers have evolved in this way not all occupations have benefitted from comparable narratives. Using data from 18 police officer interviews, we theorise that the police are constructed as the ‘villains’ of the pandemic, tasked with the ‘dirtier’ responsibilities of enforcing rules that transgress societal order (as opposed to ‘heroes’ performing the more prestigious functions such as saving lives). For this reason, they have not benefitted from the same esteem markers awarded to other key workers, which in turn has had a detrimental effect on their morale. Gratitude, especially experienced via public markers of esteem symbolic of the pandemic, was salient in participants negotiating their ‘dirt’ and occupational prestige.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded the opportunity for key workers in some traditionally ‘dirty’ occupations to experience elevated levels of prestige. Although public perceptions of certain key workers have evolved in this way not all occupations have benefitted from comparable narratives. Using data from 18 police officer interviews, we theorise that the police are constructed as the ‘villains’ of the pandemic, tasked with the ‘dirtier’ responsibilities of enforcing rules that transgress societal order (as opposed to ‘heroes’ performing the more prestigious functions such as saving lives). For this reason, they have not benefitted from the same esteem markers awarded to other key workers, which in turn has had a detrimental effect on their morale. Gratitude, especially experienced via public markers of esteem symbolic of the pandemic, was salient in participants negotiating their ‘dirt’ and occupational prestige.
KW - Police
KW - Dirty work
KW - Occupational prestige
KW - Taint
KW - Pandemic
KW - Policing
KW - Coronovirus
KW - COVID-19
U2 - 10.1080/10439463.2021.1928124
DO - 10.1080/10439463.2021.1928124
M3 - Journal article
VL - 32
SP - 646
EP - 663
JO - The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles
JF - The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles
IS - 5
ER -