Sociology Essay: Exploring the Ethics of Dirty Work in Society

This sociology essay analyzes Everett Hughes' concept of 'Good People and Dirty Work,' focusing on the societal implications of unethical actions. The essay examines the roles of individuals, particularly in the context of Nazi Germany, where 'dirty work' was outsourced to specific groups, such as the S.S. guards. The essay explores the complicity of 'good people' in allowing and facilitating these actions, as well as the social isolation experienced by those who perform the 'dirty work.' It explores the ethical dimensions of these actions and the responsibility of individuals and society, concluding that those who orchestrate and implement the 'dirty work' are the most responsible. The essay utilizes the work of Hughes, Jansen, and Manrique Rueda & Tanner to support its arguments, focusing on the moral and ethical complexities of social responsibility and the consequences of prioritizing societal acceptance over ethical conduct. The essay delves into the historical context of the concentration camps and the actions of the German society, analyzing the dynamics of power and control.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
In the publication of “Good People and Dirty Work”, the sociologist Everett Hughes
in the light of his journal, Social Problems illustrated the notion of the practise of dirty works
among the millions of ordinary civilians of Germany by another group of German people in
the name of the development of a modern civilized country (Jansen, 2016). This essay aims
to critically evaluate the complicity of the good people towards farming out the dirty work. It
furthermore aims to find out who has been the most responsible for these kinds of dirty
works.
Discussion
Everett Hughes in his paper, illustrate his notion regrading those who are engaged in
dirty works might be defective in some way or the other. His essay included in the journal
projects a view of the perception of the society towards the dirty workers (Hughes, 1971).
The essay highlights the occupation and the work of the dirty workers that is the bail
bondsmen who were furthermore subjected to social isolation. The dirty workers were
believed to be accused of the corruption behaviour that are unjustified in nature. These
workers thus rejected by the members of the respectable society became isolated and seek
respect in any of the forms. The modern Germans utilised this scenario and their position to
engage them in dirty works and fulfil their dirty wish of torture.
The dirty workers were furthermore given the fancy name of the good workers by the
proclamation of their innocence and manipulated them in the name of little social support and
showing them the possibility of including them as an integrated part of the respectable
society.
The Elite Guard or the black shirt boasted of the dramatic piece regrading the practise
of the social dirty work they have been practising. These dirty works included incidents of the

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horrors of the concentration camps fuelled by the rise of the racial hatred. Death in the hands
of the lynching mobs and due to the unnecessary disease and lack of food are some of factors
of the dirty work (Manrique Rueda & Tanner, 2015). Among the several people in the
concentration camps, most of them died while the other faced perverse cruelty by the S.S
guards who were in charge of the camps.
Despite all these inhuman tortures, the author of the essay illustrated how these
groups of people were toughly silent and never protested for the cost of being the part of the
civilized life of the Germans.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that among the two class of people who had been
dominating and executing the acts of the dirty work among the local and the ordinary
civilians of Germany, the most responsible section of people are those who are in the charge
and implements order to the others or outsource their ideas of the implementation of the dirty
works by those who carried out their orders to the local civilians. They are termed as the good
people in the society who have been doing all the dirty works in the name of trying to fir in
the society and removing their tag of socially isolated group.

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Reference
Hughes, E. C. (1971). Good people and dirty work. Social problems, 10(1), 87-97.
Jansen, S. C. (2016). Secrecy, Confidentiality and" Dirty Work": The Case of Public
Relations [FULL TEXT].
Manrique Rueda, G., & Tanner, S. (2015). To Prevent the Existence of People Dedicated to
‘Causing Trouble’: Dirty Work, Social Control and Paramilitaries in
Colombia. British Journal of Criminology, 56(1), 87-104.