Working as a Security Guard: the Limits of Professionalisation in a Low Status Occupation

ABSTRACT

The private security industry has grown rapidly over the past two decades generating a widespread debate on how it can best be regulated and professionalised. Drawing on a survey of 1 205 security guards and twenty-five in-depth interviews we examine the neglected question of working conditions in the industry. The industry is characterised by insecure employment, low wages, long working hours with very few having access to social benefits. Above all, it is a low status occupation where security guards feel they are stigmatised and lack social recognition. We conclude by arguing that the project of professionalisation introduced by the industry is neither upgrading working conditions nor increasing their status in society as ‘professionals’. Instead ‘professionalism’ is a strategy of control introduced from above.

Keywords:

• private security industry
• decent work
• low status occupations
• insecure employment
• professionalisation