Dirty work, masculinity and giving voice through innovative qualitative methods : Ruth Simpson’s contributions

Purpose This paper aims to recount the author’s personal and professional experiences of working with Professor Ruth Simpson on two interconnected projects: the exploration of meanings that butchers attach to their jobs and the research on the experiences of those involved in such occupations as street cleaning, refuse collection and graffiti removal. Design/methodology/approach The paper offers a discussion on how the turn to multiple research methods such as ethnography, photo elicitation and collaborative documentary could provide voice to participants and generate richer data sets. Findings Drawing on Ruth Simpson’s work on how gender is experienced by men in different occupations, the paper highlights how responses to stigma associated with dirty work cannot be understood by attending to just one aspect of difference, as they are formed at the intersection of class, gender, ethnicity and occupation. Originality/value The paper provides insights into how manual work can open up meanings integral to an enduring gendered, working class habitus and how exploring one axis of difference (for example, just gender) might fail to address the complexity and ambiguity of the negotiation of many categories that shape identities and experiences of workers in these occupations.