„Płatni mordercy”? Dyskurs budowania tożsamości zawodowej wśród pracowników deratyzacji
“Hitmen”? The Discourse of Developing the Professional Identity Among Rat Exterminators

Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the discursive practices that shape rat exterminators’ professional identity. Interviews with pest control professionals (PCPs) reveal the rhetorics of hard work on their identity. My main thesis is that the shaping of this identity is performed on two levels. The first one (social) is about identity shaped in opposition to the perceived negative social reception of this profession. The second one (personal)is about internal work based on struggling with the ethical challenges connected with the professional duties. Based on the conducted interviews, I have recognized four strategies of the rationalization of exterminating animals. The above-mentioned two levels of identity work have the common, namely the belief in the social usefulness of working in pest control.

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