Here\u2019s the scene: During a routine traffic stop, police pull over a car. After checking the driver\u2019s ID, they ask what he does for a living. \u201cI\u2019m a hitman,\u201d he replies. The officers\u2019 alarm quickly fades when they realize he means that he works in pest control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The anecdote raises several questions. What does the man\u2019s answer reveal about his own \u2013 and society\u2019s \u2013 attitude toward exterminating rats? How do other people in the profession construct a narrative around their work \u2013 and use it to define who they are? What exactly is \u201cdirty work,\u201d and what makes a job dirty in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The line comes from one of Shakespeare\u2019s best-known plays. In Hamlet<\/em>, the title character cries out before stabbing the spy Polonius, who is hiding behind a curtain. The choice of a rat as a metaphor is hardly accidental. In European culture, rats have long ranked among the most despised of creatures. Cast as vermin, they have symbolized demons, the devil, rape, destruction, disease, plague, the Black Death, famine, decay, and death itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how much respect have the people who exterminate them received? According to Dr. Jarz\u0119bowska\u2019s research, not all that much. Why? Could the disgust associated with rats somehow rub off on the people whose job is to get rid of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Jarz\u0119bowska points to three main forms of stigma traditionally associated with what sociologists call \u201cdirty work.\u201d The first is physical stigma: direct contact with things considered unclean. The second is social stigma: contact with stigmatized people or groups. The third is moral stigma, attached to occupations considered immoral. Some researchers also identify a fourth category: emotional stigma. Interviews with pest control technicians reveal how their profession intersects with all of these forms of stigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUntil someone has a problem, they say, \u2018Yuck.\u2019 But once it happens to them, they say, \u2018Jesus, how wonderful that people like you exist!\u2019\u201d This comment from one study participant captures the ambivalence surrounding pest control. The cultural association with disgust goes hand in hand with appreciation when the profession becomes useful \u2013 or even indispensable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSomeone has a problem. We show up and solve it. It\u2019s a win-win. I also believe in karma, to some extent. I leave a little positive energy behind,\u201d another respondent said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRespect is a key element in building a positive identity narrative for this professional group,\u201d says Dr. Jarz\u0119bowska. \u201cThe interviews suggest that the rhetoric shaping the identity of rat exterminators is largely built around it \u2013 particularly the tension between disapproval and respect from outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea of \u201ckarma,\u201d however, takes on another meaning in some accounts. \u201cI\u2019ve seen too many animals die. I tell myself it\u2019s a form of defense, so we have the right to do it. But I also try to make up for it. For example, I haven\u2019t eaten meat in years. I kill here, but I earn points there,\u201d one respondent explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, pest control technicians often use another strategy: they downplay or obscure the act of killing animals itself while emphasizing the social value of what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe construction of professional identity is clearly tied to how outsiders respond to the exterminator\u2019s work,\u201d Dr. Jarz\u0119bowska explains. \u201cRespondents emphasize the social value of what they do, while pointing out that other people often fail to recognize that value. In most accounts, rat extermination is portrayed as a problem with no real solution. These narratives reveal the dynamic nature of exterminators\u2019 professional identities, shaped in response to the social and ethical controversies surrounding pest control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The text was originally published in Polish on the Serwis Naukowy UW website on September 12, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What happens when your job isn\u2019t exactly the kind people brag about? Dr. Gabriela Jarz\u0119bowska of the University of Warsaw\u2019s Faculty of \u201cArtes Liberales\u201d set out to explore how people talk about work that carries little social prestige. Her case study? Pest control technicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[1913,1865,1912,1914,1387],"class_list":["post-9829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-culture","tag-brown-rat","tag-faculty-of-artes-liberales","tag-pest-control-technician","tag-rat-extermination","tag-university-of-warsaw"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9829"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9833,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions\/9833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serwisnaukowy.uw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The pattern<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Survival strategies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n