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Heroism and/as injurious speech: Recognition, precarity, and inequality in health and social care work

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  • Sophie Hales
  • Melissa Tyler

Abstract

This paper draws on Judith Butler’s (2009, 1997) writing on precarity and the interpellatory power of naming, read through her recent writing on the dynamics of recognition, vulnerability, and resistance, to develop a critique of the discourse of heroism used to position health and social care professionals, and other key workers, during the COVID pandemic. It does so in order to reflect on the insights into workplace inequalities that this example provides, in particular into what, to borrow from Butler, we might think of as the conditions necessary for a “workable life”. It argues that, although it might seem paradoxical, the heroic discourses and symbolism used to recognize health and social care workers throughout the pandemic can be understood as a form of “injurious speech” in Butler's terms, one that served to other key workers by subjecting them to a reified, rhetorical form of recognition. The analysis argues that this had the effect of accentuating health and care workers' precarity and of undermining their capacity to challenge and resist this positioning.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Hales & Melissa Tyler, 2022. "Heroism and/as injurious speech: Recognition, precarity, and inequality in health and social care work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 1199-1218, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:4:p:1199-1218
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12832
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Karen H. Morin & Diana Baptiste, 2020. "Nurses as heroes, warriors and political activists," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(15-16), pages 2733-2733, August.
    2. Jane Hendy & Danielle A. Tucker, 2021. "Public Sector Organizational Failure: A Study of Collective Denial in the UK National Health Service," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 691-706, September.
    3. Yousra Rahmouni Elidrissi & David Courpasson, 2021. "Body Breakdowns as Politics : Identity regulation in a high-commitment activist organization," Post-Print hal-02312406, HAL.
    4. Laura Dobusch & Katharina Kreissl, 2020. "Privilege and burden of im‐/mobility governance: On the reinforcement of inequalities during a pandemic lockdown," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 709-716, September.
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