Abstract
This pilot study investigates the concept of 'occupational stigmatization’, its causal elements, its anatomy and composition, and societal reaction towards the contaminated. It introduces the idea of a stigma continuum in relation to the occupational ideologies of individuals.The research findings point strongly to a universal and persisiting tendency (cutting also across cultures) to attach a low societal evaluation to certain types of work and to certain categories of incumbents associated with such work. The project may be seen as a study in depth, which, in sequence, diagnoses the existence of the stigma; seeks to establish its origins from an evolving work ethic; traces the effects of its perpetuation through occupational evolution; and offers authentic empirical evidence to reveal the phenomenological reality of the target population in terms of their own understanding and frame of reference by means of a representative sample of an exposed occupational group - the kitchen porters of the British hotel and catering industry.
The project then presents a sociological view of the institutional components of the hotel structure and specific levels of behaviour in hotel kitchens as social systems, together with an ideal-typical model of the hotel system at microlevel as an on-going organizational unit and its institutional elements. This view is supported in a wider context by the inclusion of a diagrammatic presentation of the entire structure of the hotel and catering industry in Britain and its diverse segmentation.
A further part of the work extends the earlier theoretical treatment of occupational stigmatization to an examination of the characteristics of stigmatized industries and their occupational afflictions: (i) concentration and fragmentation, (ii) seasonal fluctuations, (iii) environmental influences and (iv) tradition and change. The stigma effect upon occupational membership through stereo-typing, labelling and the handicap of intermittent employment has also been emphasized.
A whole chapter on methodological problems is included and the concluding observations offer some thoughts on the possible re-orientation of management attitudes towards a work-related socialisation process that may eventually reverse discriminating public images towards lowly evaluated occupations.
| Date of Award | 1976 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
|