Recent dirty work research has begun to explore intersectionality, attending to how meaning is made at the intersection of multiple sources of taint. This research has shown that individuals often construct both positive and negative meanings, which can be challenging to manage because the meanings people construct require a certain coherence to provide a foundation for action. This challenge is intensified when dirty work is intractable—when it is difficult, if not impossible, for a person to avoid doing this work. Our study of meaning making in the face of intractable dirty work examines ragpickers in Mumbai, India, who handle and dispose of garbage, and are further tainted by belonging to the lowest caste in Indian society, and living in slums. These ragpickers constructed both an overarching sense of helplessness rooted in the intractability of their situation, and a set of positive meanings—survival, destiny, and hope—rooted in specific facets of their lives and enacted through distinct temporal frames. By holding and combining these disparate meanings, they achieved “functional ambivalence”—the simultaneous experience of opposing orientations toward their work and lives that facilitated both acceptance and a sense of agency, and enabled them to carry on in their lives.

中文翻译：

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棘手肮脏工作中的交叉性：孟买拾荒者如何让他们的工作和生活有意义

最近的肮脏工作研究已经开始探索交叉性，关注如何在多个污染源的交叉点处产生意义。这项研究表明，个人经常构建积极和消极的意义，这可能很难管理，因为人们构建的意义需要一定的连贯性才能为行动提供基础。当肮脏的工作难以处理时——当一个人很难（如果不是不可能的话）避免做这项工作时，这一挑战就会加剧。我们在面对棘手的肮脏工作时进行意义创造的研究调查了印度孟买的拾荒者，他们处理和处理垃圾，并因属于印度社会中最低的种姓并生活在贫民窟中而受到进一步玷污。这些拾荒者既构建了一种根植于困境的总体无助感，又构建了一套积极的意义——生存、命运和希望——根植于他们生活的特定方面，并通过不同的时间框架形成。通过持有和结合这些不同的含义，他们实现了“功能性矛盾”——同时体验到对他们的工作和生活的相反取向，这促进了接受和代理感，并使他们能够继续他们的生活。