Key literature and research question/hypothesis
In this report discuesss these , the following elements will be covered: the key literature used within the framework of writing the paper, research questions and hypotheses posed, the methodology for collecting data (i.e., measures used and the sample size implored), and summary of the results. The report will also cover general conclusions drawn from the research, critical analysis and finally end of the entire study.
Key literature and research question/hypothesis
The paper seems to have been cited well. The researchers have used enough evidence to support their work, and there is no doubt about that.
Ethnographic studies fall into the category of qualitative research. Qualitative studies detach from the use of numerical data in the study of different phenomena such as people’s behavioural changes, culture, ethnicity and racism. Ethnographic research stems from ‘ethnographic research,’ which is a qualitative method where scientists/researchers ultimately engage themselves in the lives of people, their culture, or the situation under study.
Figure 1: Ethnographic study design
The paper uses an ethnographic approach to study dirty work in the context of street cleaning and refuse collection. The researchers of the paper seek to understand how class and masculinity intersect. The researcher collects qualitative data from street cleaners to answer the following broad research question: “How do working-class men practise gender in the context of dirty work, and how do other categories of difference, such as class, support d/or intercede with gendered practices of ‘dirty workers’?”
Methodology
The recent years have seen the refuse industry being shaped by a stronger push to extend private companies’ role, which has led to competitive contracting out or tendering. This contracting/tendering has led to the dilapidation of pay and conditions and affecting holiday pay, holiday pensions and sickness (Rowbotham, 2006; Slutskaya et al., 2016). Furthermore, since the recession, a significant number of employers have increasingly been hiring their employees temporarily.
For this study under discussion, the majority of men (employees) were contracted under a permanent basis, with the remaining men (both indigenous and migrant workers) temporarily. The sample taken consisted of men between 18 and 64 years. However, the age of street cleaners was mostly between 40 and 55 years. The contractors and councils received e-mails and telephone calls in and around London, UK. Two contractors and a committee in Greater London consented to take part in this study.
With permission granted for access, they set a date, and the research team (man and woman) proceeded to the worksite, where they would join the participants as they work as deemed appropriate, and conduct interviews as they work. The research would also work alongside the participants where possible and interview them ‘on the job.’ The research team employed a two-tiered ethnographic approach of non-participant and participant-observation fieldwork, as well as semi-structured interviews. This milage is following Tyler (2012), who argues that an ethnographic approach is well-suited in bringing into focus how gender and dirty work intertwine.
During observational fieldwork involving two researchers and four teams of refuse collectors, field notes were made and documented after each working day. The study also included 21 semi-structured interviews (8 refuse collectors and 13 street cleaners).
Results and conclusions
As for class subordination and masculinity, the street cleaners and refuse collectors identified themselves as belonging to the working class, and highly ranked their jobs. Such self-identification depicted a conscious and positive awareness of both their subjective experiences and objective circumstances. Most participants had abandoned school at the ages between 15 and 17 years, totally not proceeding with their education and having a series of low wage jobs. The majority lived in the same areas within their patriarchal homes.
Results showed that participants were much aware of their objective class positions which had influenced, more subjectively, the participants’ sense of ‘self,’ and justifications for crucial life choices. According to them, the class was at once a source of pride and at the same time, of profound vulnerability (Slutskaya et al., 2016, p.172).
As for the social comparison between men and women, careful social comparison relied on measuring oneself against others and thought to be worse off. Selective social comparison helps researchers draw esteem-enhancing inferences based on the context of identity threat (Ashforth and Kreiner, 1999, 2014). One instance is where a refuse collector self-compared himself and rated himself above the abilities of one of the researchers.
Although gender never came out clearly in the study, the presence of a female researcher triggered some gender comparisons, reflecting normalization of masculinity within the occupation of street cleaners and refuse collectors.
In concluding the paper, the researchers intended to explore the investment of men engaged in ‘low level’ occupations, and in particular, gendered and class practices. This study contributes to the understanding of complex and often contradictory means where the interplay between categories of difference and the dynamics of practising gender in the context of dirty work unfold.
The study has shown how men encounter relations of subordination inclined in their class position, low job status and the employment relationship; how ethnicity appears via meanings connected to migrant workers labelled as a source of unfair job competition. The study also shows how men respond to their positioning via appeals to working-class communities and masculinity. Adherence to traditional displays of masculinity is seen to form a section of an oppositional strategy to the encounters of class and occupation-based.
Critical analysis
The methodology is not sufficient. Certain areas, such as data analysis do not come out in the methodology section. The researchers do not tell us qualitative data analysis they used. Was it via software for qualitative data analysis, manual thematic or content analysis? Additionally, the study is only in West London, and there it is hard to generalize the study to other similar surroundings where perhaps the black race dominates the low-class jobs. It would also be prudent if the researchers extend their research to another location to compare between two grounds in different localities.
The sample size only focuses on 21 participants between the ages of 18 and 64 years. The study does not reveal whether budget limitations forced them to involve such a small sample size. The sample size is large enough to allow the researchers to make generalizations in other localities in the UK or elsewhere across the world. A further study on the same should occur, but in a different location and with a more significant number of participants.
The study does not also disclose the limitations of the study. It does not also tell us where there was a lack of consent among those invited for interviews. That is, how many councils, contractors or even participants had declined to participate in their study. In each study, one cannot have all the participants consent to participate. The research seems not to have given the participants informed consent, which is an ethical requirement when studying human participants.
The study does seem to have a study protocol. The study does not also state the source of approvals to do the research. The study does not also disclose if there were benefits perhaps to the council, contractors, participants or even community in the study was conducted.
Conclusion
This report covers vital literature used within the framework of writing the paper, research questions posed, the methodology for collecting data, a summary of the results and general conclusions drawn from the research, and finally, critical analysis.
The study employs ethnographic research, which falls under the category of qualitative research. The research focuses on the study of people’s behavioural changes, culture, ethnicity and racism, which is the baseline for qualitative research. In ‘ethnographic research,’ scientists/researchers ultimately engage themselves in the lives of people, their culture, or the situation under study. The study involves men (employees) who were contracted permanently, with the remaining men (both indigenous and migrant workers) temporarily. The sample taken consisted of men between 18 and 64 years. However, the age of street cleaners was mostly between 40 and 55 years. The study finds out that men encounter relations of subordination inclined in their class position, low job status and the employment relationship, and how men respond to their positioning via appeals to working-class community and masculinity. The study also reflects the normalization of masculinity within the occupation of street cleaners and refuse collectors.
However, there are weaknesses with the study: the absence of a study protocol, lack of informed consent process, small size limiting generalization of the study, lack of disclosure of limitations of the research and lack of benefits to the councils, contractors and participants.