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GOOD PEOPLE DOING DIRTY WORK: A STUDY OF SOCIAL ISOLATION *
Author(s) -
Davis David S.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1984.7.2.233
Subject(s) - isolation (microbiology) , innocence , sociology , perception , work (physics) , social psychology , false accusation , criminology , psychology , law , aesthetics , epistemology , political science , philosophy , mechanical engineering , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , engineering
Everett Hughes (1964), in his essay “Good People and Dirty Work”, implies that those who engage in dirty work may be defective in some way, a view that reflects society's perception of dirty workers. However, many of them perceive themselves to be good people doing dirty work. In this paper we examine the consequences of this disjunction between the audience's and the self's perception. We examine members of a dirty work occupation: bailbondsmen. Many of these individuals are found to be socially isolated. This isolation is the result of their belief that they have been unjustly accused of corrupt and corrupting behavior and their desire to be seen and accepted as respectable. Rejected by members of respectable society and rejecting association with like others who may taint their attempts for respectability, they become socially isolated. Ironically, by proclaiming their innocence they, unlike their truly accused counterparts, find little social support or possibility of becoming integrated into respectable society.