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Trading health for money: agential struggles in the (re)configuartion of subjectivity, the body and pain among construction workers

Ajslev, Jeppe Z N ; Møller, Jeppe L ; Persson, Roger LU orcid and Andersen, Lars L. (2017) In Work, Employment and Society 31(6). p.887-903
Abstract
Construction work is physically demanding and often associated with bodily pain. This article presents a study of construction workers’ practices of using and relating to their bodies at work through an agential realist framework for analysing the (re)configuration of the workers’ embodied subjectivity. The analysis draws on interviews with 32 Danish construction workers as well as brief observations. The article shows how ‘trading health for money’ becomes a mode for maintaining positive social, occupational and masculine identity among construction workers. Furthermore, it shows how the agency of the body is overruled by the intra-acting agencies of productivity, collegiality, job security and masculine working-class identity. Finally,... (More)
Construction work is physically demanding and often associated with bodily pain. This article presents a study of construction workers’ practices of using and relating to their bodies at work through an agential realist framework for analysing the (re)configuration of the workers’ embodied subjectivity. The analysis draws on interviews with 32 Danish construction workers as well as brief observations. The article shows how ‘trading health for money’ becomes a mode for maintaining positive social, occupational and masculine identity among construction workers. Furthermore, it shows how the agency of the body is overruled by the intra-acting agencies of productivity, collegiality, job security and masculine working-class identity. Finally, it shows an instability in this configuration of masculine working-class identity that leaves room for a focus on the body. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Work, Employment and Society
volume
31
issue
6
pages
17 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000417709900001
  • scopus:85043762539
ISSN
0950-0170
DOI
10.1177/0950017016668141
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d18778b3-1fdb-497b-a071-f6aa38a92df4
date added to LUP
2016-11-04 18:46:34
date last changed
2023-10-04 13:35:41
@article{d18778b3-1fdb-497b-a071-f6aa38a92df4,
  abstract     = {{Construction work is physically demanding and often associated with bodily pain. This article presents a study of construction workers’ practices of using and relating to their bodies at work through an agential realist framework for analysing the (re)configuration of the workers’ embodied subjectivity. The analysis draws on interviews with 32 Danish construction workers as well as brief observations. The article shows how ‘trading health for money’ becomes a mode for maintaining positive social, occupational and masculine identity among construction workers. Furthermore, it shows how the agency of the body is overruled by the intra-acting agencies of productivity, collegiality, job security and masculine working-class identity. Finally, it shows an instability in this configuration of masculine working-class identity that leaves room for a focus on the body.}},
  author       = {{Ajslev, Jeppe Z N and Møller, Jeppe L and Persson, Roger and Andersen, Lars L.}},
  issn         = {{0950-0170}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{887--903}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Work, Employment and Society}},
  title        = {{Trading health for money: agential struggles in the (re)configuartion of subjectivity, the body and pain among construction workers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0950017016668141}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0950017016668141}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}