Dirty jobs and dehumanization of workers

Journal article

Roberta Rosa Valtorta, Cristina Baldissarri, Luca Andrighetto, Chiara Volpato
British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 58, 2019, pp. 955-970

DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12315

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APA Click to copy
Valtorta, R. R., Baldissarri, C., Andrighetto, L., & Volpato, C. (2019). Dirty jobs and dehumanization of workers. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58, 955–970. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12315

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Valtorta, Roberta Rosa, Cristina Baldissarri, Luca Andrighetto, and Chiara Volpato. “Dirty Jobs and Dehumanization of Workers.” British Journal of Social Psychology 58 (2019): 955–970.

MLA Click to copy
Valtorta, Roberta Rosa, et al. “Dirty Jobs and Dehumanization of Workers.” British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 58, 2019, pp. 955–70, doi:10.1111/bjso.12315.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{roberta2019a,
  title = {Dirty jobs and dehumanization of workers},
  year = {2019},
  journal = {British Journal of Social Psychology},
  pages = {955-970},
  volume = {58},
  doi = {10.1111/bjso.12315},
  author = {Valtorta, Roberta Rosa and Baldissarri, Cristina and Andrighetto, Luca and Volpato, Chiara}
}

Abstract

The present study aims at expanding research on dehumanization in the work domain by exploring laypeople's dehumanizing perceptions toward stigmatized workers. Starting from Hughes' (1951) concept of dirty work, the present research aims to demonstrate that the different types of occupational taint elicit distinct dehumanizing images of certain occupational groups. Employing a cluster analysis, the results showed that workers in the physical taint cluster were most strongly associated with biological metaphors, workers in the social taint cluster were perceived as most similar to objects, and workers in the moral taint cluster were perceived as most similar to animals. The theoretical and practical implications are considered.