Finding and Feeling Meaningfulness in an Invisible Occupation

Abstract

Evidence is mounting that recognition from others may play a critical role in shaping an individual’s experience of meaningful work; so how do workers find meaningfulness when their work is “invisible”? I examine this tension through a qualitative, inductive study of the occupation of linemen—the women and men who construct and repair power lines. By examining this invisible occupation, my research explains the conditions that foster the “recognition gap”—a disparity between the recognition linemen believe they deserve and the recognition they actually receive. This recognition gap ultimately produces meaningfulness insecurity—feelings of uncertainty or doubt about the meaningfulness of their work. Moreover, this research also explains how linemen overcome this meaningfulness insecurity through intuitive feelings of pride in beautiful completed work. Through a process motivated by a desire to avoid criticism for ugly work, linemen develop “expert schemas” that allow for intuitive—rapid, nonconscious, and affectively charged—reactions to the appearance of a completed job. When positive, these intuitive judgements foster experiences of meaningfulness. By explaining these processes, this dissertation re-casts meaningfulness from an individual accomplishment to one that is deeply dependent on social cues; and from a process requiring thoughtful reflection to one driven by intuitive judgements.