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Identity Dynamics in Occupational Dirty Work: Integrating Social Identity and System Justification Perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Glen E. Kreiner

    (Department of Management, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210165, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0165)

  • Blake E. Ashforth

    (Department of Management, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, Box 874006, Tempe, Arizona 85287-4006)

  • David M. Sluss

    (Department of Management, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, 1705 College Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208)

Abstract

Ashforth and Kreiner (1999) documented how workers in so-called “dirty work” occupations were able to overcome threats to their social identities by engaging in the cognitive tactics of ideology manipulation and social weighting. This paper expands Ashforth and Kreiner’s work in three ways. First, we move beyond an exclusive focus on intense dirty work occupations by mapping the broader landscape of stigmatized work. Second, we examine how system justification theory and social identity theory---typically cast as competing mechanisms by which individuals and groups perceive their places in a social structure---can complement each other to tell a more complete story of how individuals and groups deal with stigmatized identities. Third, we consider how stigmatized workers experience identification, disidentification, and ambivalence as a result of conflicting occupational and societal influences.

Suggested Citation

  • Glen E. Kreiner & Blake E. Ashforth & David M. Sluss, 2006. "Identity Dynamics in Occupational Dirty Work: Integrating Social Identity and System Justification Perspectives," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 619-636, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:17:y:2006:i:5:p:619-636
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1060.0208
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kimberly D. Elsbach & C. B. Bhattacharya, 2001. "Defining Who You Are By What You're Not: Organizational Disidentification and The National Rifle Association," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 393-413, August.
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