provided a way of enacting a form of symbolic social control over the corporeal, and also psychological threat she posed to their masculinity and their masculine industrial culture. The reconfiguration of Lions’s gender identity served to restore the balance between the norms of hegemonic masculinity and the challenges to the manhood of Eveleigh’s male workers posed by the possibility of accidents, illness, and the intervention of a woman whose behaviour was seen to be more masculine than feminine. It simultaneously obscured the men’s vulnerability and underplayed her womanhood. As Susan Parma (1976: 102, cited in Green, 1991: 125) concluded from her study of the Scottish Outer Hebrides: in an environment of mutual watchfulness and interdependence, the development and use of nicknames provide a source of amusement. In providing amusement, they reinforce in-group solidarity and encourage circumspect behaviour. The of Belsen nickname fulfilled precisely such functions. Conclusion By considering nicknaming as a form of language making rather than simply as a form of humour, this paper has indicated how workers use nicknames, particularly derogatory ones, to comment on the behaviour and performance of other workers. In doing so it has highlighted how nicknaming reflects intersubjective processes through which workers address the tensions and conflicts in their social relationships, which arise from their working conditions and arrangements. In addition, by extending the terrain’ beyond the ‘uncolonized organisation/workplace, the paper indicated how nicknaming not only draws on both localised collective norms and a range of broader social and cultural resources but also reinforces them. Gendered assumptions, norms and stereotypes provide one type of cultural resource that workers
provided a way of enacting a form of symbolic social control over the corporeal, and also psychological threat she posed to their masculinity and their masculine industrial culture. The reconfiguration of Lions’s gender identity served to restore the balance between the norms of hegemonic masculinity and the challenges to the manhood of Eveleigh’s male workers posed by the possibility of accidents, illness, and the intervention of a woman whose behaviour was seen to be more masculine than feminine. It simultaneously obscured the men’s vulnerability and underplayed her womanhood. As Susan Parma (1976: 102, cited in Green, 1991: 125) concluded from her study of the Scottish Outer Hebrides: in an environment of mutual watchfulness and interdependence, the development and use of nicknames provide a source of amusement. In providing amusement, they reinforce in-group solidarity and encourage circumspect behaviour. The of Belsen nickname fulfilled precisely such functions. Conclusion By considering nicknaming as a form of language making rather than simply as a form of humour, this paper has indicated how workers use nicknames, particularly derogatory ones, to comment on the behaviour and performance of other workers. In doing so it has highlighted how nicknaming reflects intersubjective processes through which workers address the tensions and conflicts in their social relationships, which arise from their working conditions and arrangements. In addition, by extending the ‘uncolonized terrain’ beyond the organisation/workplace, the paper indicated how nicknaming not only draws on both localised collective norms and a range of broader social and cultural resources but also reinforces them. Gendered assumptions, norms and stereotypes provide one type of cultural resource that workers
ILPC2010paper-11040.docx