Abstract

TIZZIANI, Ania. The “dirty work” of the cities. Work conditions and experiences of urban cleaning workers in the City of Buenos Aires. Trab. soc. [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.38, pp.449-465.  Epub Jan 01, 2022. ISSN 1514-6871.

In this article, through the analysis of the working conditions of the street sweepers in the city of Buenos Aires, we seek to explore some dynamics that organize the unequal distribution of visibility and material and symbolic recognition in the labor market. The workers who carry out street sweeping constitute a labor group that has been little studied by the social sciences. Like others cleaning occupations, it is a “low-skilled” activitie at the base of the employment hierarchy. They are relegated to the margins of productive organization and subordinated to occupations that are more valued by society. Following Everett Hughes' studies on “dirty work”, these activities constitute socially necessary tasks, delegated to groups of workers who are then stigmatized based on their proximity to “impure” work objects, such as dirt and waste. Based on qualitative fieldwork carried out in the citi of Buenos Aires, our investigation addresses both the physical and material dimensions of the work of the street sweepers, as well as the relational aspects, seeking to identify the attributes that allow the workers to build a valued image of their occupation and those that generate resistance and conflicts.

Keywords : working conditions; street sweepers; urban cleaning; dirty work.

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