The Gray Area with Sean Illing

The moral dangers of dirty work

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Vox’s Jamil Smith talks with journalist and author Eyal Press about "dirty work" — the jobs Americans do that, as Press explains, can lead workers to perform morally compromising activities unwittingly. They discuss examples of this kind of work (drone pilots, meat packers, prison aides), talk about its relation to the term "essential workers" that gained prominence during the pandemic, and explain how certain jobs highlight the disparities of class, race, and gender in American society.

Host: Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith), Senior Correspondent, Vox

Guest: Eyal Press (@EyalPress), author; journalist

References: 

  • Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America by Eyal Press (FSG; 2021)
  • "What does it mean to take America's 'jobs of last resort'?" by Jamil Smith (Vox; Apr. 22)
  • Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday; 2021)
  • The Social Network, dir. David Fincher (2010)
  • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)
  • The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)
  • The Civilizing Process by Norbert Elias (1939)
  • "Good People and Dirty Work" by Everett C. Hughes (Social Problems, vol. 10 (1); 1962)
  • The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú (Riverhead; 2019)
  • "Inside the Massive Jail that Doubles as Chicago's Largest Mental Health Facility" by Lili Holzer-Glier (Vera Institute of Justice; 2016)


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    This episode was made by: 

    • Producer: Erikk Geannikis
    • Editor: Amy Drozdowska
    • Engineer: Patrick Boyd
    • Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall

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