A different type of dirty work: Hidden taint, intersectionality, and emotion management in bureaucratic organizations

ABSTRACT

This study explores the intersectionality among identity markers, such as gender, race, and class, and emotion management in two bureaucratic organizations – municipal courtrooms and airport security checkpoints. We name and explore a new type of dirty work called “hidden taint,” which we describe as a larger, encompassing category of dirty work that involves the experience and dynamic co-construction of taint. Utilizing qualitative methods including participant observation and interviews, we compare how hidden taint is experienced in each bureaucratic context. The results focus on the relationship between (1) hidden taint and the co-construction of emotion norms and (2) hidden taint and power dynamics. This study extends communication theory by naming and describing hidden taint as a new type of dirty work, extending literature on emotion management and intersectionality by exploring their connection to dirty work in occupations with varying levels of prestige, and detailing how emotion management is co-constructed between employees and patrons in bureaucratic contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotional labor
• emotion management
• intersectionality
• dirty work
• taint

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Dr. Tamara Afifi for her support and insightful critiques during the review process, as well as the three anonymous reviewers. Additionally, we thank Kate Lockwood Harris for her helpful feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Shawna Malvini Redden (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is an assistant professor at California State University, Sacramento. Her research examines emotion in organizing, organizational sensemaking, and identity construction and performance.

Jennifer A. Scarduzio (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky. Her research examines the intersections of emotion, violence, and wellness in a variety of organizational and health settings.

Notes

1 The TSA has been recognized by national organizations as a top employer for diversity, women, and people of Hispanic/Latino and African American heritage (2011).

2 Airport customers vary widely in their knowledge of security procedures and expectations of service. While frequent travelers such as business customers know the rules and processes, they are also used to being treated with a high level of service and expediency. Contrarily, many infrequent travelers do not have enough experience to know how security processes unfold, and at the same time, bristle at perceived inequities during travel (e.g., first class/frequent flier/priority lines, TSA pre-check, etc.). Likewise, the expansion of pay-to-upgrade airport perks enables fliers without a lot of travel experience to develop high expectations for service. Some research argues that conflict in security settings is due in part to the prevailing expectations of “the customer is always right” service that does not exist in airport security where mandatory encounters prompt unique emotion management for patrons (Malvini Redden, 2013).

3 Pseudonyms for participants and organizations have been used to protect confidentiality.

4 At the time of the interviews, the TSA as an organization was approximately 11 years old. Four TSO interviewees had worked at the TSA almost since its inception.

5 Interview guides available upon request.