Dirty Work by Eyal Press Publisher: Guangxi Normal University Press

Introduction · · · · · ·
The powerless do the dirty work, while the powerful reap the benefits.

Necessary work to keep society functioning is ignored or even reviled.

We pretend not to see it, but inequality is at its most dangerous.

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【Editor's recommendation】

⭐A cruel narrative of contemporary society, observing new dimensions of inequality, and exposing the moral costs borne by workers

Re-examining the professions that are essential to society but of questionable morals: slaughterhouse laborers, prison guards, oil rig operators…

This type of work is considered dirty and despicable because of the violence and harm it causes, and those who engage in it suffer stigma, humiliation and mental trauma. However, the so-called "dirty work" is tacitly condoned by the public. In order to ensure a clear conscience, we would rather be kept in the dark.

These invisible workers are the forgotten one percent who do 100 percent of society’s dirty work. They are victims of structural inequality, yet they are deprived of their innocence.

When work no longer enjoys dignity, poverty means moral failure, the powerless sell their consciences, and the powerful reap the benefits. Do we have the option to exit?

⭐The arrogance of the elites in the risk society, exposing the collusion of capital, power, and technology, and how it deprives the poor of their remaining conscience

After an oil spill, it’s the oil-covered pelicans that make the headlines, not the dead rig workers. When a slaughterhouse safety scandal comes to light, diners worry about the meat on their plates, not the abused workers. Programmers who illegally scrape personal information are paid well, making “don’t be evil” a pipe dream.

Civilization allows violence to hide behind the scenes of social life. Social elites, standing on the moral high ground, exchange privileges for virtue and use consumerism to wash away their complicity in evil.

We live in a civilized country, but we have become accomplices of barbarism. We can see clearly the suffering in distant places, but turn a blind eye to the evil in front of us.

⭐A wonderful work of news documentary, written with tenderness by a sociologist, and a biography of every migrant worker who has been silenced and covered up

The book goes deep into the heart of the United States, exploring the geographical and social margins behind the high walls. The miners described by Orwell and the prisoners in the penitentiary seen by Dickens also reappear in this book.

The author uses non-fiction writing and a sociological perspective, based on years of follow-up interviews, and reinterprets the contemporary implications of inequality using detailed data and social theories.

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【Recommended by all circles】

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed our reliance on essential workers, but long before that, there was a group of people doing jobs we might not want to think about. In this insightful, perceptive, and beautifully written book, Eyal Preis explores the lives of the people who do these jobs: prison officers, drone operators, slaughterhouse women. Without passing judgment, Dirty Work confronts a range of deep and thorny moral questions. It reveals the bonds of complicity, stories that belong to no one else but to each of us. This is a brilliant and important book.

--Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain

In this rich and disturbing book, Eyal Preis highlights the stigmatized and morally damaging jobs we ask the most vulnerable members of society to do. Out of public view, prison guards, slaughterhouse workers and drone operators do society's "dirty work". This book challenges the public to reflect on inequality at work by revealing how we are all implicated in the dirty work we outsource to others.

--Michael Sandel, author of The Arrogance of the Elite

Disturbing and necessary… Dirty Works shows us ugliness on nearly every page, but the author still wants us to put aside our cynicism and pessimism and join him in finding ways to strengthen the moral bonds between us.

——The New York Times Book Review

It is not rose-colored glasses that prevent a clear view of the real situation; it is the gold-rimmed glasses of elite arrogance that blind the privileged and make them turn a blind eye to the lower classes of the population.

——"American Scholar"

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【Content Introduction】

Why do some jobs, which are neither moral nor decent, still attract people? When work no longer enjoys dignity, do we have the choice to quit? In this non-fiction book about occupations and inequality, the author cites the concept of "dirty work", which refers to jobs that are indispensable in society but are considered dirty and despicable, such as immigrant workers in slaughterhouses. These people have no power, are insecure, and suffer humiliation and condemnation of their conscience. The public would rather be kept in the dark. This book describes how capital conspires with power and technology behind "invisible work" to shape an unequal power structure and reveals the truth about the hidden moral costs at work.