ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded the opportunity for key workers in some traditionally ‘dirty’ occupations to experience elevated levels of prestige. Although public perceptions of certain key workers have evolved in this way not all occupations have benefitted from comparable narratives. Using data from 18 police officer interviews, we theorise that the police are constructed as the ‘villains’ of the pandemic, tasked with the ‘dirtier’ responsibilities of enforcing rules that transgress societal order (as opposed to ‘heroes’ performing the more prestigious functions such as saving lives). For this reason, they have not benefitted from the same esteem markers awarded to other key workers, which in turn has had a detrimental effect on their morale. Gratitude, especially experienced via public markers of esteem symbolic of the pandemic, was salient in participants negotiating their ‘dirt’ and occupational prestige.

摘要

COVID-19 大流行为一些传统上“肮脏”职业的关键工人提供了提升声望的机会。尽管公众对某些关键工人的看法以这种方式演变，但并非所有职业都从类似的叙述中受益。使用来自 18 名警察采访的数据，我们推测警察被构建为流行病的“恶棍”，其任务是执行违反社会秩序的规则的“肮脏”职责（而不是执行更有声望的职能的“英雄”比如拯救生命）。出于这个原因，他们没有从授予其他关键员工的相同尊重标记中受益，这反过来又对他们的士气产生了不利影响。感恩，特别是通过象征大流行的公共尊重标志来体验，