The Production of Difference and Maintenance of Inequality: The Place of Young Goan Men in a Post‐Crisis UK Labour Market

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which young migrant men are constructed as potential employees in a British town where service sector employment, often on a casual or precarious basis, dominates the bottom end of the labour market. Low-wage jobs in many British towns are now constructed as feminized, low waged and demanding personal skills of empathy and servility. In this context, young men, and especially young men of colour, including recent in-migrants, are at a disadvantage, constructed by employers, agencies, co-workers and customers as less eligible workers than 'locals'. We use the experiences of young men from Goa as a lens though which to trace the ways in which expectations and experiences when looking for employment produce a hierarchical division of labour in precarious jobs at the bottom end of the service sector.

Stigma Beyond Levels: Advancing Research on Stigmatization

“…But tribal stigma can also impact occupations by association, wherein groups that are deemed "inferior" taint the entire occupation (Slay & Smith, 2011: 211). It also can be more fundamental, such as when caste membership determines the types of work an individual is allowed to perform; in such cases, stigma is linked both to the individual for being a member of the caste, and to the occupation/work opportunities available to that individual (Chrispal, Bapuji, & Zietsma, 2020;McDowell, Rootham, & Hardgrove, 2016;Zulfiqar, 2019). Tribal stigma also can be attached to a particular geographic market, such as that associated with the "made in China" label (Devers et al, 2009: 158).…”

“…Servile sources of stigma can lead to social exclusion and identity devaluation, and "wound one's dignity" (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999;Fisher, 2003;Hughes, 1958: 49). Scholars have documented how service workers receive lower wages, face demeaning treatment and are perceived as less eligible (Dyer et al, 2010;McDowell et al, 2016).…”

Dirty Work, Dirty Resistance: Digital Warfare in the Era of Precarious Labor

“…We recommend advancing this line of inquiry by understanding how other online spaces cultivate resistant discourses, how other work environments structure dirt to encourage digital resistance, and how other discursive strategies are used to bring dirt online. Our analysis centered on the food service industry as a particularly salient example of a demeaning workplace, and one in which discourses of masculinities are inaccessible especially for frontline workers (McDowell ; McDowell, Rootham, and Hardgrove ). Dirt operates as a conveyor belt until the final individuals are reached, who are often ruthlessly dominated and demoralized until they quit.…”

The production of difference and “becoming Black”: The experiences of female Nigerian doctors and nurses working in the National Health Service

“…While, McDowell et al. (2016) drew on Hall to theorize young Goan Men's employment opportunities in a post‐crisis UK labor market as structured through the production of difference.…”